


From the Ground Up

by FireSoul



Category: DC's Legends of Tomorrow (TV), The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Multi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-02-21
Updated: 2018-05-04
Packaged: 2019-03-22 04:08:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 24,217
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13755981
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FireSoul/pseuds/FireSoul
Summary: Mick Rory has been alone for most of his life. Sure, he's had friends, he's even had a partner, but when it comes down to it he's always been an outsider. Now he has a team, a family where if he had a title it would be the drunk uncle, and he's ok with that. But now things have changed, he has a promise to that he intends to keep, but he has no idea how he's supposed to be a dad.





	1. Something Lost, Something Found

**Author's Note:**

> Asian_shipper asked me to continue one of my one shots from "Prompts for Mixen!" and I had been thinking about a lot of places it could go anyway, so now I've decided to create this full story! Hope you guys like it!

A choked sound rings out from behind her; Amaya hadn’t even known there was a person there. That thought sends a chill down her spine, because there are very few people in existence who actually possess the capability to sneak up behind her. She’s hoping that it’s just because they’re in the middle of battle, that because they’ve just brought Mallus down and everything is in chaos right now with Legends, Mallus followers, and Time Bureau agents all fighting each other she simply doesn’t have enough attention to spare to whatever is going on behind her. But there is a sinking feeling settling in the pit of her stomach, and when turns around she nearly chokes herself, because Kuasa has fallen to her knees, blood trailing out her mouth.

“Kuasa!” It’s a strange, horrified sound that accompanies the name out of her mouth; a scream and a sob mixed together.

The next thing that she knows is she’s hit her knees and Kuasa, doubled over and pressing her hands to her abdomen futilely, is falling against her and she’s easing her back, cradling her in her arms.

“Kuasa,” she cries softly, getting a good eyeful of the red liquid seeping through her granddaughter’s shirt as she coughs and seizes with each gasp, blood spurting out her lips. “Stay with me,” she begs through her tears, desperately wiping at the blood on the other woman’s face only for more to come and replace it. “Kuasa,” she says again through her tears. “No… No stay with me,” she continues to go on pleading like this even as the other woman reaches one shaking hand up to her arm and grabs on for all she’s worth. “We can help you,” she shudders in a shaky gasp of breath, “Just… Just hold on.”

Kuasa gasps at her, choking on some sort of words and her whole head bobbing with the effort that it’s taking her to just try and speak.

“Nana Baa,” She gasps, her voice a broken whisper, and then the grip that she has on Amaya’s arm goes lax.

“Kuasa?” Amaya asks through her cries, a shaking hand continuing to wipe at the blood on her granddaughter’s face. “Kuasa no, come back. Kuasa…” She keeps crying but it’s no use, Kuasa is gone.

“Amaya, we’ve got to go.” She hears Zari behind her but she doesn’t register the meaning of her words. Instead she just continues to sob, leaning forward and pressing her head to Kuasa’s chest while Zari keeps shouting for her to move but the words fall on deaf ears.

Eventually she feels a strong pair of arms come around her, and they start lifting her up, leaving Kuasa alone where she lies.

“No!” She chokes through her sob, “No, no!” But Mick continues to run with her cradled in his arms, and briefly she remembers that he had been previously tasked with carrying the unconscious but possibly still living form of Mallus, or maybe he’s Leonard now, she isn’t really sure. In any case she does briefly catch the sight of yellow electricity pass ahead of them, so she knows it’s safe to assume Wally has him.

She knows she should demand Mick put her down, that she should start running for herself, but she can’t. All she can bring herself to do is to tuck her face into his broad chest and continue to cry.

* * *

 

_“Sara Lance…”_

That voice, that deep, menacing voice is ringing in her ears. Not in the same way it has been for the past few weeks, but like a fading memory.

_“Soon you will gaze upon my **true** face.”_

She didn’t take that to mean much at first, and then the more that he’d repeated it she had started to prepare herself to come face to face with the actual devil, as if that were the worst case scenario. When she’d started seeing images of Leonard in her dreams, his eyes black and Mallus talking through him, she had thought it was just a ploy to torture and break her. But she never considered… when Mallus broke free of his spirit prison… and Leonard was the one standing there…

It’s been a long day.

When she finally makes it to the med bay Leonard is in one of the chairs, bracelet secure around his wrist and eyes shut. Wally is in the room, along with Ray, but no one else. She had expected that she might find Mick here as well, but he could still be focused on Amaya and she wouldn’t blame him if he were to say that this… whatever this is, is too much for him.

It’s too much for her, but she’s the Captain, so too bad.

“What?” Her voice is small, scared, and so she allows herself a second to clear her throat. If either Wally or Ray notices, and she knows that they do, they don’t say anything. “What do you have, Gideon?”

“Mr. Snart appears to be in a comatose state after John Constantine severed his soul from its ties to both the spiritual realm and the timeline. I am doing what I can to heal him, however he is unstable and the damage done to his internal organs by the explosion at The Oculus is extensive.”

Sara doesn’t know whether she should sigh in relief or pain at that answer, though she’s leaning heavily towards the second option.

“So…” Ray’s voice is careful, like he knows that she is just one wrong word away from breaking. “This is Snart?”

She has to inhale deep through her nose, sniffling up any tears that she might lose control of otherwise. “Yeah,” her voice comes out stronger than she was expecting, which gives her a bode of confidence. “Somehow.”

But Ray, of course, has already figured that out.

“Mallus once said that he existed within every moment of time; past, present, and future.” He exclaims in awe, his eyes growing with each word that comes from his mouth as he turns back to stand beside Snart once again and look over his charts, which are terrible by the way. “When The Oculus blew it must have scattered Snart’s consciousness throughout the timeline, while trapping his body in the spirit world because… by all accounts… he should be dead.”

He meets her eyes as he finishes, and so naturally Sara looks down at the comatose man in the med chair. He looks dead, if she’s being honest, and he looks like he died violently. He has a rather large gash on his head with dried trails of blood caked from it and leading all down his face. There are other cuts and what look like burns on his face and under the torn areas of his clothes. His right arm is completely gone, only a small stub below his shoulder remaining and even that is just barely attached, and Wally is tying it with a bandage because he has so many internal injuries that the missing arm isn’t even close to being a priority for Gideon right now.

She wants to cry, to take the hand that he still has and kiss his knuckles and whisper to him that he’s safe, to tell him that he needs to be ok because she can’t handle losing him again.

But, instead, she settles her hands onto her hips and nods.

“I’ll let the others know,” there isn’t anything that she can do in here anyway, so she needs to get out and focus on her job.

 

* * *

 

By the time that they make it back to the ship Amaya’s loud sobs have come down to quiet whimpers. They are still very much persistent, but at least the volume has lowered. Mick doesn’t set her down in the entranceway like she thought he might, not even after he’s closed the ramp. Instead, he sets off through the winding halls of the ship making this turn and that turn, but Amaya doesn’t really pay any attention to where it is they are going. Eventually he turns down the hall of the barracks and adjusts his hold on her enough to get a hand against the scanner for her door. He stands for a second in her doorway, looking around like he’s trying to decide just what it is that he wants to do. She doesn’t say anything to try and rush him, doesn’t try and shoo him away. She just remains where she is in his arms and allows him to decide what comes next. It doesn’t take too much longer for him to step into the room and when he does he goes right for her bed, then he carefully sits her down. Once she’s out of his arms she just stares at her lap, at the drying blood covering her hands and making her skin feel tight.

Kuasa’s blood.

Even when Mick crouches down to her level she doesn’t look up, nor does she acknowledge it when he says he’ll be right back with a towel. She just keeps her eyes on her hands, and when her door closes she finds that the tears have started all over again. They come on slow, so slow that she doesn’t even know they’re coming, not until after they’re spilling out her eyes and her mouth is open with silent little hiccups growing louder with each one that rattles her chest. She tilts her head back just has the hiccups turn to loud cries of agony and it isn’t long after that Mick returns. He’s saying something to her, something she doesn’t really care enough to hear, and then she feels his large hands on her wrists and the cool sensation of a wet cloth on her fingers.

“No!” She sobs, trying to yank her hands away but his light grip turns firm.

“Amaya-” He tries to reason with her, his voice sympathetic, but she’s not having it.

“No!” She repeats, her voice practically a roar. It’s crazy, she knows that it is, but Kuasa is gone. She’s dead, and the blood stained on her hands is the only part of her that Amaya has left.

“We gotta clean you up.” He doesn’t raise his voice; even though she’s screaming at him for all that she’s worth.

“No!” She protests again, “No! No!” When she feels his body start to shift on the mattress, his fingers brushing the back of her bicep as he maneuvers himself behind her, she starts to punch and kick at him. “No! No! No! Ngh!!!” Her words turn incoherent again with cries as he finally manages to get her under control and take ahold of her hand, working the cloth diligently over her fingers.

Now that he’s won, her flailing legs slowly lose their stamina and her fist, after landing probably a seventh punch to his chest, doesn’t come back up and instead she clutches a handful of his shirt. She lays her head back in it’s previous resting place against his chest and continues to sob while he works on her hands. Somewhere in the back of her mind she notices that he’s wearing a different shirt than before, and she wonders how much of Kuasa’s blood she transferred to that one. Of course that thought only flashes the image of her granddaughter dying in her arms through her mind, and so her sobs grow louder. When he moves his attention to her other hand, the one gripping his shirt for dear life, his arms come around her and she wants to burry herself in him. She just wants to lose herself in the feeling of his strength holding her and his sturdy body against her. She could swear that her teeth have scraped him with a few of her sobs, but if that’s true he doesn’t complain. He just holds her and allows her to cry herself out.

 

* * *

 

“Are you insane?!” To be honest, Sara had been expecting this kind of a reaction from Nate. He never knew Leonard, but he did know the brainwashed Legion of Doom version. He also knows Leo, and he likes Leo, so she had hoped that might offset any negative opinions that he might still have in regards to Leonard, but it appears that she’s had no such luck.

“He’s in a coma, Nate.” She insists, “Even if he is still all twisted inside-”

“Which he very likely is not,” John pipes in and Sara rolls her eyes out of sheer annoyance at another voice, despite that fact that this voice is being helpful.

“He can’t hurt anybody.” She finishes, flashing an apologetic look to John but he doesn’t appear to have taken offence to her frustration, he knows it’s been a long day for her.

However, it apparently hasn’t been long enough of a day that Nate is going to relent his argument and trust her.

“Ok, sure. And what if he wakes up and he’s still Mallus?”  
“It was his connection to the spirit world, lad, which gave him his power. Once we exorcised his soul from that place he lost all his power.” John explains, which sounds to Sara like it coincides with Ray’s theory, since she knows from experience that a soul and a consciousness are two separate things, so that helps to put her at just a little bit of ease.

But, of course, that also means it coincides with the logic that Leonard shouldn’t be alive right now, assuming he is still alive in the med bay.

Nate looks over at her, exasperated, like he’s looking for her to back him up. She wants to be able to say that she has no idea why he would ever think she’d do something like that, but she can’t. Sure, she’s already stated that she’s in favor of keeping Leonard on board the ship until he wakes up, but as Captain it’s her job to hear what her team has to say and to consider every possibility, no matter how much she hates some of those possibilities.

“He’s being monitored by Gideon,” she finds herself saying, addressing everyone but eyes locked onto Nate. “If Mallus is still somehow in there she’ll catch it before he resurfaces, we’ll be fine.”

Nate tilts his head back in defeat, John directs a proud smile her way, and Zari appears indifferent to the decision. None of them, however, say anything, and so Sara turns on her heel to go find Mick so the two of them can compare notes.

* * *

 

It’s hours after they’ve returned from the mission, or Amaya thinks it’s been hours anyway. Truthfully she hasn’t been keeping track of the time, not that time really exists in the temporal zone to begin with but whatever. The point is that for however much time has passed she’s spent the entirety of it sitting on the edge of her bed. Mick left her a little bit ago; after Sara asked to talk with him and she assured him she would be ok. She isn’t crying anymore, she wasn’t even crying at the point that Mick left. She’s just staring off into space, a cold numbness overtaking her body. At some point, she can’t pinpoint exactly when, an idea starts to formulate within her mind. It isn’t a good idea, most likely, but she runs through it again and again until she’s certain that she’s found the execution for it that will likely lead to the most minimal disaster.

It still isn’t a good idea, even at that point, yet Amaya finds herself unable to ignore it and so, moving for the first time in hours, she pushes herself to her feet.

She moves like a zombie as she exits her room, and not the vicious zombies that they fought during The Civil War. She’s more like the slow, sullen zombie of a really bad horror movie. She walks like this down the hall to Zari’s room, where she slowly brings her hand up and raps lightly on the door. When it opens Zari looks surprised, not to mention a little worried, and Amaya can’t exactly fault her for that.

“Hey,” Her friend greets, her voice matching her face. “What’s going on?”

“Nothing,” it’s a lie, they both know it, but it’s just an automatic answer. Amaya bites her lips for a second as she thinks through her next words, hoping that Zari won’t shoot her down. “I need you to do me a favor.”


	2. The Innocent

Leonard is still unstable.

After her talk with Mick, when he had to break it to her that Amaya isn’t exactly in the best place right now on account that Kuasa died in her arms, she thought about going back to the med bay but got halfway there and could already hear Ray asking Gideon the status from down the hall, to which the reply was less than reassuring.

So instead she turned around and decided to come here, to the Captain’s office, with a bottle of scotch and a glass that she hasn’t even bothered to use; it’s been one of those days.

“Ouch,” A new voice comments from the doorway and Sara looks up to see Ava standing there, a mixture of worry and sorrow etched into the lines of her face.

Normally when Sara finds herself looking up at the unexpected sight of Ava Sharpe standing in front of her something happens to her insides. Usually either her heart starts to beat just a little faster or her stomach suddenly feels like there might be butterflies fluttering around in there. There are even times where her whole state of being just feels inexplicably lighter, even when she’s come with bad news the sight of Ava just makes Sara feel _happy_ , even if it doesn’t always last for any longer than a fraction of a second.

Not this time.

This time her heart does a free-fall into the already deep pit of her stomach the second that she hears the other woman’s voice. Not the good kind of free-fall that’s fueled by adrenaline and makes her just as excited as it does nervous, always bringing a bright smile to her face. This is the kind of free-fall where her heart feels like it’s heavy as a stone, and it just keeps sinking the longer she’s in this situation, whatever this situation is.

“Can I come in?”

Sara closes her eyes and, after placing down the partially finished bottle, runs the palms of her hands over her face and back through her hair at the question.

_“No,”_ She thinks to herself, _“Just let me have a few minutes? I’m not ready for this conversation; I don’t know what’s happening with Leonard yet. Let me figure this out.”_

“Yeah,” she answers despite her thoughts and Ava walks quickly over to the desk, to which Sara almost wants to laugh, because even after the bloodbath that took place today this woman is still speed walking around like she’s trying to set a record for most agents yelled at in one day.

She settles herself leaning back against the desk, arms folded across her chest as she watches Sara swishing what’s left of her scotch around the bottle.

“Mallus’ followers, the ones who survived, are in custody back at the time bureau.” She says after a minute and Sara nods, a small grunt accompanying it.

“You come all the way here to tell me that?” She asks, because there is something in Ava’s tone, and her face now that she’s looking, that’s forewarning.

Sure enough, Ava glances down at her feet with a sigh before returning her eyes to Sara, a look of sorrow in them.

“I know he used to be a member of your team,” she begins and suddenly Sara feels herself going on the defensive, ready to do whatever’s necessary to protect Leonard, even from Ava. “But he knew what he was doing-”

“His mind was twisted,” Sara snaps as she rises to her feet, nothing but disbelief in her voice. “It wasn’t Leonard doing those things-”

“Except that it was.” Ava interrupts her, voice firm, businesslike, and cold.

With a scoff Sara folds her own arms across her chest, almost unable to believe that this is even a conversation.

“So the Time Bureau doesn’t believe in insanity defense?” She asks, accusingly, and Ava looks away for a second before meeting her eyes again.

“He killed people Sara-”

“So did I.” Her voice is firm, and Ava has reached that point where she looks like she’s torn between the temptation to plead with her to stop being difficult and the temptation to slap her.

In the end, like always, she settles for her ice queen voice.

“Let me know if he wakes up, Director Bennett and I will come and collect him.”

There isn’t much space between them at this point, but Sara still takes half a step forward with her hard gaze locked firmly onto her… whatever Ava is to her, it’s been complicated for awhile now, though at the moment she’s leaning towards the word enemy.

“Get out.”

Ava looks a little taken back by that, not to mention hurt, but she understands, and turns and leaves the office, and the ship, without a word.

* * *

 

Amaya is pacing anxiously around her room, her heart pounding in her chest and her feet unable to keep still. She’s at the point where she is actually starting to feel nauseous from the anticipation. A part of her regrets what she’s sent Zari to do, or more like she wants to regret it. She knows that it’s wrong, that this isn’t how things are supposed to go, and that she could be derailing the timeline by far more than she realizes. But she doesn’t care. She can’t, she won’t, let Kuasa wind up where she did; dying apart from her own time on a crusade to save her home.

“Amaya,” Zari’s voice on her comm feels like a godsend, even though it fills her with just as much dread as it does relief.

“Zari! Where are you?” That’s a stupid question, considering there is really only one place Zari could be if they’re able to communicate, but the sarcastic girl on the other end of the feed doesn’t point out such a thing, for once.

“Just got back with the jump ship, we’re still in the launch bay.”

_We_

It worked. Amaya’s hands are shaking as she realizes that Zari completed her mission and so far it’s succeeded.

“I’m on my way,” she says, her voice only a little breathless, and she hurries out of her room.

 

* * *

 

Arriving at the jump ship launch bay Amaya thinks that it’s a small miracle she hasn’t passed anyone on her way, because there would be no way she could explain where it is she’s going or why she is in such a rush. She doesn’t see Zari at first, but it doesn’t worry her. She didn’t have to tell her friend that this mission wasn’t exactly Captain approved, and Zari certainly knows how to avoid getting caught. So it only makes sense that she isn’t anywhere in sight, therefore Amaya opens up the door to the small ship and sure enough Zari is seated on the edge of one of the passenger seats against the wall, standing to attention the instant the door opens, and strapped in next to her is… is…

“Kuasa,” Amaya practically breathes the name, and for the first time all day the moisture in her eyes is that of happiness and a smile even finds it’s way onto her face. Her granddaughter, the little girl who is only four-years-old, is asleep in her seat despite the horror she was just taken from.

“I had to knock her out,” Zari explains, “She was panicking and crying and I thought it might be best if she didn’t cause a scene the second we got back. She should be waking up in a few minutes.”

Amaya nods, understanding. “Thank you Zari,” she says sincerely, acting on impulse and bringing the other woman into a hug.

Zari, while obviously a little caught off guard by the embrace, returns it. “Of course.”

They don’t have to wait long after that for the child before them to start waking, Zari kneeling down to her level as soon as her eyes begin to flutter open.

“Hey Kuasa,” she says gently, allowing the girl enough space to look around. When she starts to panic again Zari reaches up and lightly touches her fingers to her arms. “Shh, shh, shh, shh. It’s ok.” She assures the young girl, “It’s ok, you’re safe.” Kuasa meets her eyes at that, terror clear in her little brown orbs. “It’s alright.”

“Where?” She gasps through her tears, “Where am… am…”

“Somewhere safe,” Zari answers the unfinished question, and then she looks back at Amaya, who nods. So she turns her attention back to Kuasa. “My name is Zari,” she introduces just as her friend gets down next to her. “And this is Amaya.”

She watches with baited breath as Kuasa looks over at the other woman, her grandmother, and as Amaya smiles to her.

“Hey Kuasa,” she greets softly, happiness practically radiating from her and it is such a stark contrast from the hollow woman who knocked on her door earlier that Zari can’t even question anymore whether this was a good idea or not.

“Mmm… Mama, where’s…. where’s…” Of course her young granddaughter trying to ask about her family is enough to deter that happiness, but not completely, and Amaya’s bright smile remains on her face even as it becomes sad.

“I’m sorry Kuasa,” she practically whispers, reaching up and carefully undoing the buckle of the jump seat. “But we couldn’t get to them.”

It isn’t a lie, and Kuasa seems to catch the meaning loud clear, if the way her tears practically explode out of her is any indication anyway. She throws herself forward and Amaya catches her with a grunt, not having expected the sudden impact. Getting up Zari watches the whole scene unfold and she feels bad for thinking about it but she can’t help noticing that Kuasa is being very loud, and the ship really isn’t that big, and she’s still certain that Sara didn’t sign off on this little rescue.

_“Well,”_ she thinks to herself, _“This should be fun.”_


	3. Only Human

Sara didn’t think things could get much worse at this point.

OK, maybe “worse” isn’t the word she should be using, because all things considered things actually aren’t going as bad as they could be after that battle, but more complicated. Yeah, that’s what she means; she didn’t think things could possibly get any more complicated than they already are.

She should know by now that with this team there is always room for things to get more complicated.

After Ava left she couldn’t stay in that office drinking, she needed to do something, to somehow find a way to save Leonard from being locked up by the Time Bureau. Naturally that course of action set her towards the med bay, again, but she wasn’t even halfway there when she heard a loud, infantile, cry.

So now she’s running down the halls of the Waverider, dread coursing through her system as follows the sound not too far from her original destination. She knows where it’s coming from, and the closer that she gets to the launch bay the more her fears sink into her chest. She doesn’t need to get there to know what’s going on, doesn’t need to open the door to the jump ship to know who it is that’s crying on the inside. She already knows, but she opens the hatch to confirm anyway, and as expected she is met with the sight of Amaya standing there and holding a wailing toddler whom she is desperately trying to calm.

“Oh no,” she finds herself saying over the sound of the young girl, angrily, because anger and frustration are the easiest things for her to feel right now.

Amaya and Zari look over at her the second that the door opens, and she wishes she could say that the sight of Zari in here comes as a surprise but it really doesn’t.

“Sara-” Zari tries to interject but she is not in the mood to hear it.

“I just have one question,” she snaps, eyes flying between the two nervous looking women before her even as she gestures a hand to the crying child in the first woman’s arms. “Which one is this?”

It’s almost a pointless question, because given the events of not only today but also history Sara knows exactly who this child is.

“Kuasa,” Amaya answers, as expected.

With her teeth gritting together Sara tries to calm her racing mind and get out a less than furious sentence. She thinks through all her options, considers about as many ways to handle this conversation as possible. She knows that Amaya isn’t going to put Kuasa back where she belongs, if she were then she wouldn’t have stolen her from the timeline without permission in the first place. She also knows that she is outnumbered here, and while she likes to believe that her position as Captain gives her a little bit of extra influence in situations like this she knows that it won’t work here. Then, loath as she is to admit it, she doesn’t exactly relish the idea of returning this younger Kuasa to her place in the timeline either; the poor girl isn’t going to have a chance in hell at any sort of happiness until she’s too old and made too many mistakes to take it. Not to mention that she has about a billion other problems on her mind right now, her head is already spinning and she really shouldn’t make any rash decisions just because there is now a wailing toddler in the picture bringing the spinning up to a full blown migraine.

“Just… Ugh just calm her down!” Her words come out a bit snappier than she would like, but considering the situation she thinks that is perfectly acceptable. “If you need me I’ll be in the library for the next few hours, obsessively monitoring the timeline.” She grumbles that to herself more than to Amaya and Zari, but she’s fairly certain they’ve heard, and it doesn’t really matter if they haven’t. She just needs to get out of here and get her head to some semblance of straight.

 

* * *

 

Amaya, frankly, had been expecting Sara to take the discovery of Kuasa a lot worse than she did. But as the Captain turns on her heel and marches out of the jump ship she’s not going to look a gift horse in the mouth. If “calm her down” is the only order Sara is going to give on the matter, well then she has no problem complying.

Kuasa, on the other hand, might.

Her little hands are clinging tight to her shoulders and the reality of what she’s done is starting to sink in. She’s removed Kuasa from the timeline yes, but more than that she’s made herself responsible for Kuasa.

A _young_ Kuasa, very young.

It’s not that Kuasa’s young age is a problem, in fact it’s probably what will make this situation a whole lot easier in the long run, but as she is standing here with the toddler wailing in her arms because she just watched her home burn to the ground it’s really hitting her what kind of situation she threw herself into.

Zari is still standing here, eyes still set on the door like she can’t believe Sara took this whole thing as… well, as she did.

“Can you keep watch?” It’s the only thing she can think to say, the only thing that she can think to _do_ , but it does it’s job and Zari nods before letting herself out of the jump ship.

Thus Amaya is left alone to calm Kuasa.

 

* * *

 

Mick has been avoiding the med bay ever since leaving Amaya.

He thinks it’s understandable, Sara told him that Snart ain’t doing too good and he’s already dealt with the fallout of one death today, he would rather not face another just yet.

But, alas, he should probably suck it up and go say goodbye. Heaving a sigh he pushes himself up out of his recliner and stalks over to the door of his room, reaching his fingers through the bars of Axel’s cage as he goes to give his little friend a scratch on the head.

The second he’s out in the hallway, however, his thoughts are derailed.

He hears crying.

Turning his head to one side and then the other he tries to determine where the sound is coming from and eventually decides on his left. He makes his way down there, wondering if it’s Haircut grieving in the med bay, but he doesn’t think so. While he has no doubt that Ray is probably beyond capable of sounding like a little girl this… well this just sounds too much like a little girl for it to be him.

Following the sounds of the cries takes him not to the med bay, and he doesn’t know if he’s relieved or concerned about that, but instead down the corridor of the Waverider that leads to the jump ship, and standing in front of said jump ship with her arms folded across her chest is the new girl.

“What’s going on?” He demands, because those cries coming from the other side of the closed hatch that Zari is so aptly standing in front of definitely sound like they belong to a little kid, and the last time that he checked they don’t have any of those on board.

“Nothing Mick,” She lies dismissively, shifting her weight from one foot to the other and very pointedly avoiding his gaze once she is done talking to him. He regards her for a minute, tries to humor her attempt at concealment for whatever is happening.

“Hmm… Ok.” He eventually says and without any warning other than a closed mouth grin he moves quick, quicker than she would ever expect of him, and winds his arms around her tight enough to safely lift her thrashing form off the ground.

“Mick!” She screeches in protest as he spins her around and sets her safely on her feet in the space where he was standing just a moment ago, turning and opening the door before she can stop him.

He registers her weight against his back, feels her hand on his shoulder as she futilely tries to turn him away from the sight that his eyes are frozen onto in the jump ship. He’s found the source of the crying, and it’s in Amaya’s arms.

It is a little girl, and he’s spent the better half of this afternoon listening to Amaya mourn the loss of her granddaughter. The very same granddaughter who’s past she once told him she wanted to change.

Shit.

Amaya is looking at him like she’s afraid of what he’s going to say, which is silly because the more that he thinks about it the only thing he wants to say is _“good job”_.

“Bout time,” he settles on instead and a relieved smile overtakes her face, like a part of her actually thought he wouldn’t stand behind her decision, which is also ridiculous because he will always stand behind any decision she makes.

He gives her a nod and then turns to go, she needs to focus on calming her granddaughter right now and besides, someone should really let the others know not to worry about the crying.

 

* * *

 

Sara knows that she should be monitoring the timeline, and she is trying to, but her attention keeps drifting back to that half drunk bottle of scotch standing at the corner of her desk, mocking her.

Still, despite the millions of different places that her mind is right now, she is perfectly aware of John Constantine sauntering into the doorway.

“The last time I saw someone staring down a bottle that hard, he finished the whole damn thing in under an hour.” The blonde warlock observes from the doorway and Sara wants to smirk at him, to send some kind of quip right back into his face, but all she can bring herself to do is drag her eyes away from the bottle and sigh.

“You ready to go home?” She asks, by all accounts that should be the reason he’s here, but instead of nodding he heaves a sigh of his own and steps fully into the office.

“Well I was,” he admits, fingers finding the edge of a helmet on one of the office’s shelves and dancing idly along the edges. “But now it looks like my work here might not be finished.”

He’s giving her that look of his, that knowing smile that assures her he isn’t talking about his work with magic. No, John Constantine has a heart despite what he might prefer some people believe. She’s seen that heart before; he knows she has, so he doesn’t bother pretending around her.

“I’m fine,” she’s not sure why it is that she’s lying. Maybe it’s because she herself wants to believe the words, or maybe it’s because they won the war against Mallus and got Leonard back, by all accounts she should be over the moon with happiness. Amaya’s little stunt with Kuasa should be her biggest concern at this point, but it’s hardly weighing on her mind at all because she’s already worrying about so much personal shit, making her feel selfish.

“You know love,” John interrupts her thoughts, walking towards her and wagging a finger around in thought. “You’re a bloody good Captain, and I don’t give compliments like that lightly.” She smirks, both at the question and the fact that he’s paused to pull out a cigarette. “But,” he says around the stick in his mouth, pulling a match from his pocket and lighting up. “The problem with bloody good Captains is they don’t always remember that they’re human.”

She scoffs at that, her eyes rolling. “Well I helped you draw Leonard out of Mallus today by being human, so I think I’ve got remembering that covered.”

He smirks, and nods to acknowledge her point, but she knows this discussion is far from over.

“Being human for someone else,” he muses, taking another step towards her. “That’s easy. Being human for yourself…” he trails and very slowly leans forward onto the edge of her desk, eyes staring down into hers with quite possibly softest and yet simultaneously smuggest expression she has ever seen on his face. “Well that’s a little more difficult.”

“Hmm,” she hums, regarding him. She glances back at her bottle, another small sigh escaping her lips. “It’s stupid.”

This time it isn’t a lie, because everything that is bothering right now really is ridiculous, but the look on John’s face tells her that he thinks she’s still lying to him, or maybe to herself.

“Even so, it can’t hurt to share.” He says and before she can protest he pulls up a chair for himself and get comfortable. He isn’t going to let this go.

“I’m just confused,” she finally mutters, but of course that isn’t going to be enough for him. “I…” She trails off with that, trying to figure out if she is really about to spill her guts about this teenage-esque drama to John Constantine of all people.

Well, if it’s the only way to get him off her ship.

“Ava and I have been… testing the waters, I guess you could say, for the past couple weeks.”

“And here I thought you were concerned about Amaya removing her dead granddaughter from 1992.” At his statement she fixes John with a look that’s a mix of incredulous and confused, to which he smirks. “The lass has been screaming for almost an hour now, everyone’s noticed.”

Fair enough.

“So…” He drawls his continuation, leaning forward in his seat with interest. “You and the time agent? Well I must say it’s not entirely a surprise, the attraction is obvious. So what seems to be the problem? Things not working out and you don’t know how to tell her?”

Sara almost huffs a laugh at that, “Actually things are great,” she informs him. “No, we get along really well and I really care about her.”

John nods at that, “So what’s the problem?”

That is the one question that Sara doesn’t want to answer.

“Like I said, we’re testing the waters.” She repeats, finally getting up from her seat to pace around the office. “I like her, a lot, but…” She wants to finish that sentence, and it’s not that she doesn’t know how to, it’s just that to say this out loud… it will make it real.

“Just what, love?” John asks, pouring himself a glass of scotch and tossing it back.

Sara braces herself with a sigh, arms wrapped uncomfortably around herself.

“Before The Oculus, Leonard and I were…” Unsure of how to put this Sara tips her head back with a groan. “I don’t know what we were but… we had started to… talk, about it.” She hopes that makes sense and John won’t need any further explanation, because she isn’t sure if she can give any.

Thankfully, judging by the look on his face, he seems to understand.

“So…” he drawls out, looking like he’s running her words through his head for either a second or third time. “Two years ago you and our recently rescued, not to mention possibly dying, friend in the med bay were in about the same emotional place as you and the stuck up time lass are right now, that right?”

Sara thinks it over and eventually nods, as that is pretty much correct.

“And,” Constantine goes on, “Because Leonard died, as far as you knew, those feelings are still there.”

He doesn’t need to ask this time if he’s right or not, he can see it in her eyes that he is, but she nods regardless.

“What do I do?” It surprises her how soft her own voice comes out, how scared, and John gives her a look of sympathy before he rises from his seat and approaches her.

“Well I’m no expert in relationships, but if I were I believe I would tell you something along the lines of be honest with both of them.” He says with what she thinks is supposed to be a sincere smile, to which she only scoffs.

“Oh yeah, tell them I think I have feelings for both of them but really I don’t know if I have feelings for either of them.”

He smirks, something that’s half humoring and half mocking. “Well I would tell them separately but-”

She cuts him off with a groan, tipping her head back again and a sound of sheer annoyance coming from her mouth.

“Just,” he says, grabbing lightly onto her shoulders when she tries to step away. “Tell them how you feel, whatever it is, and no matter how confusing. They’ll understand.” He says with a wink and she does roll her eyes, but eventually a small smile breaks through her face.

“Alright, sounds like a plan.” She admits and the smile on his face turns almost proud, then the next thing that she knows her arms are around him in a hug.

“Thanks John,” she says as she pulls back, “Now let’s get you home.”


	4. While You Were Sleeping

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The first half of this chapter is the original one shot that I based this story around, so if it seems repetitive to some of you that would be why!

She shouldn’t have done it.

She knows it, Sara knows it, everyone knows it, actually, but she just couldn’t help herself. Kuasa, while her actions have been harmful and desperate, she had her heart in the right place. All she wanted is to save her home, her family, and all the people who will lose their lives on the day Zambesi burns to the ground. Maybe a part of her was selfish for wanting to grant herself a second chance at a happy childhood, but Amaya can hardly fault her for that. She wants her granddaughter to have that chance, to be able to grow up surrounded by a family who loves her. But if Zambesi never burns then Mari will never be adopted by the McCabe’s or become the Vixen of Detroit, and all of the people who she’s helped will pay the price. And Kuasa… she’ll fall down a path that will ultimately get her killed, twice.

That’s why she’s done what she’s done.

Ok, so she sent Zari to do it, because she knew that if she herself traveled to the day Zambesi will burn she wouldn’t be able to resist helping. But she can’t, she won’t, allow her destiny to force her to decide which of her granddaughters’ lives a happy life, not anymore.

So now she’s here, in her quarters, with a four-year-old Kuasa sleeping in her lap after crying herself into exhaustion.

Sara’s pissed she’s removed her granddaughter from the timeline, but sympathetic, and left with the announcement that she is going to be monitoring the timeline obsessively for the next few hours.

When the door opens Amaya glances up, though just barely, and after seeing that it’s Mick standing in her doorway she adverts her attention back to Kuasa. Her slender fingers comb through the little girl’s matted hair, her arms wound firmly around her small body, as if she’s afraid someone is going to try ripping the child away from her to deposit her back into the timeline.

Frankly, she doesn’t think it’s the most irrational fear, given the circumstances.

“I wish we could stay like this forever.” She finally says, voice almost a whisper. Mick is standing fully in the room now, door closed behind him; Kuasa didn’t even stir at the sound.

Mick remains quiet for a minute, and she flits her eyes up to look at him. He’s watching her, and Kuasa, with a sad kind of pain in his eyes because he’s come in here to tell her that a decision about what to do with Kuasa needs to be made.

Eventually he takes a step forward, followed by another, until he’s standing at the edge of her bed and only once she nods does he lower himself down onto the mattress.

“I know,” his low voice rumbles, his eyes very pointedly avoiding both her and Kuasa. “But you can’t.”

She knows he’s right, that she needs to figure out what she’s going to do with Kuasa sooner rather than later, much sooner, but her grip still tightens around the young girl.

“I can’t bring her back,” her voice is almost pleading, like she’s begging him to not let _anyone_ take her back, and he nods. “But… I can’t take care of her, either.” That’s probably what breaks her heart the most out of all this, that she has the power to remove Kuasa from the timeline but not the power to give her a better life. If it were up to her she would raise Kuasa as her own, but that’s not going to be possible. It would cause a paradox, she’s already checked.

Mick nods along, able to tell by her body language alone that this is the hardest decision she’s ever had to make.

“You tell her who you are?” He asks, because he doesn’t have any answers for her, no suggestion that doesn’t require her to break her granddaughter’s little heart. So he goes with that, because it’s easier to talk about what’s already been done as opposed to what there still is to do.

He’s a little disappointed when she shakes her head, if only because he knows how much she wants to tell but knows she can’t, and he hates having to watch her do the “right” thing when it’s so obviously killing her inside.

“Just that I’m a friend,” she answers, leaving out the _“And I’m going to keep you safe, everything is going to be ok, I promise.”_ She’s sure he’s already made assumptions about that anyway.

“You going to tell her?” She eyes him with a little bit of surprise at that, and he raises an eyebrow in response. Kuasa is young; too young to realize that the woman she was handed off to upon being brought onto this spaceship is actually the very same grandmother she just watched die, only fifty years younger.

That thought, the thought that Amaya sent Zari with the jump ship to the day where she dies, makes Mick’s hand clench into a fist. At first he was a little hurt she didn’t send him, but now he’s realized why; if she had he would’ve killed every last sorry bastard terrorizing that village and the timeline would be a mess.

“It’s safer if I don’t.” She finally answers him, soft eyes glancing back down to the little girl slumbering in her arms. “She’s little,” she states, almost wistfully. “I know enough about children to know it’s safe to assume she doesn’t really understand time and dates yet. Especially coming from Zambesi, where every day is the same as the last.” There’s something in her words there, something that is almost resentful, and a small hint at a story for another time. But then she looks back to him and it’s gone, and her eyes are all business. “We could bring her anywhere and she’d never know the difference.” He nods, because even though that is meant to sound like nothing more than an observation he knows better, and he knows her words are the very start of a plan.

“The McCabes’?” He asks, but she shakes her head.

“They were looking for a baby,” she explains, “And Kuasa is bound to have some… adjustment issues. Even if they were willing to take both of them at first, they might decide they really can only handle one child.” He nods at that, thinking it through.

“And you can’t tell ‘em cause, hell even if they did believe you it could change too much for Mari.”

Amaya nods at his words, agreeing. “I can’t just leave her.” Her words are simple, determined, and she knows he isn’t going to argue. She didn’t pull Kuasa from the timeline just to dump her in some random place, to leave her fate up to chance. “Besides,” she eventually continues, “She’ll want to know, sooner or later, what happened. She needs to be with someone who can tell her.” It’s the logic she’s been using on herself all day, the thing she’s been telling herself to reason that it isn’t selfish to want to know who Kuasa will end up raised by, if not by her. “Otherwise she might get hurt looking.”

Mick nods, though she can’t tell if he’s agreeing with what she has said or what she hasn’t. Either way, she’s happy to have him on her side.

They fall into silence after that, a very companionable silence, but a silence nonetheless. Kuasa is still asleep; Amaya is suspecting that she’ll stay that way for a while. Her breath is coming out evenly now, no longer the ragged hiccups that it was after she first fell asleep. Mick, well Mick is sitting there with a look of deep thought on his face, the gears turning in his head as he tries to come up with a solution to this… this mess she’s created.

But there is no solution, not where everyone wins, at this point she isn’t even sure there’s a solution where anyone wins. She’s happy he hasn’t said this out loud to her yet, because she’s not quite ready to admit it, and of all people she doesn’t think she could handle it coming from-

“I’ll take her.”

The sound of his voice, of his suggestion, rattles Amaya from her thoughts so quickly she has to glance down and make sure she hasn’t woken Kuasa, and by some miracle she’s hasn’t.

“What?” She asks and Mick holds his hands up defensively, almost shrinking under her gaze.

“If you’d want me to,” he amends, “I…” He trails off, and Amaya is almost certain she’s never seen him nervous like this before. “I know I’m not the most nurturing guy, so if you don’t want me raising her-”

“No Mick, that’s not it.” She interrupts him, because that is so very far from what she’s thinking. “No it’s… I trust you Mick, ok, with my life and my granddaughter’s. But do you understand what you’re offering to do? To-”

“Yes,” he answers her so seriously, quickly, and she can see it in his eyes. He hasn’t had a long time to think this over, but think it over he has, and he knows what he’s signing up for. “I don’t want to die in the time stream.” He says, and that isn’t what she was expecting him to say, but she’s listening intently to every word. “I want to go home, always have, but there’s nothing there for me to go back to. I’m not the man I used to be and I… I…” He stops and sighs, like he’s never said these words aloud even to himself. “I want my life to mean something.”

Amaya’s heart breaks at the look on his face, that look of almost complete hopelessness, and she shifts herself just enough to wrap her hand around his.

“Your life does mean something,” she promises once he’s looking at her. “You mean more to the people on this team than any of them will ever admit, I promise.” He nods at that, like a part of him already knows, and it brings a smile to her face. Still, he’s looking at her with complete seriousness.

“I promise I’ll love her like my own,” he swears and she nods, she never considered he wouldn’t.

“She’ll have some issues,” she warns, for the second time really, and he nods.

“Not my first time dealing with issues.” He promises and she can’t help but smile sweetly, almost giddy, because this really would be a perfect arrangement.

There isn’t an ounce of her that doubts Mick would be an excellent father figure to Kuasa, that he wouldn’t get an honest job and make sure that she has a real chance in life. Plus if he has Kuasa then she’d be able to check in on her every once in a while. But she still finds herself frowning, because this is almost too perfect.

“I could never repay you for something like this.” She tells him honestly but he only shakes his head.

“Don’t gotta repay me,” he insists before he squeezes her fingers that are already interlocked with his ever so lightly. “Just let me do this, please.”

A smile plays on her lips as she nods, her head falling contently onto his broad shoulder, and slowly he brings his other hand to rest in a feather-light, almost nervous, touch on Kuasa’s back.

The young girl actually relaxes a bit at the contact, and now that she knows her granddaughter is going to be safe and loved Amaya finally allows herself to bring her lips to press a kiss to the girl’s hair.

The three of them sit there for an undetermined amount of time after that, suddenly bonded together in the most unexpected of ways. When Kuasa wakes they’ll have a whole new set of problems to face, such as explaining even just a piece of this to her, not to mention any possible issues with the timeline. But for now Amaya is content to stay there with Mick by her side and her granddaughter in her arms. She knows that this is probably taking the Legends’ whole “pieced together family” thing to a new level, but she wouldn’t have it any other way.

 

* * *

 

With a heavy sigh Ray flops himself down onto the unoccupied chair in the med bay, relief flooding system as he breaths for what feels like the first time in hours. Today has been one of those days where he’s found himself missing Marty’s presence a little more than usual. He misses the older scientist every day, but today they really could have used him. During his time on the Waverider Marty had become somewhat of their resident surgeon; preforming the medical procedures that Gideon lacks the means to. With him around today it might not have taken the time span of hours to stabilize Snart, he might’ve not had not just one, but _two_ moments of flat lining before coming back thanks to the AED.

But, Ray thinks as he looks over at his very pale but finally stabilized former teammate, Martin would still be proud that he and Wally were able to save the crook who once sacrificed himself for them all. Gideon is reconstructing his arm now, and Wally has headed off to his room to change out of his uniform. It was strange to see him walk out of the room, rubbing tiredly at his eyes with his arm because his hands were covered in so much blood. He normally prefers to speed off to his room for a quick change of clothes, but not today. Today has been too much, for all of them, and Ray isn’t so innocent that he’s blind to the high probability that things are going to get worse before they get better.

Constantine, before Sara took off in the jump ship to bring him home, stopped in to say that Snart should be free of his Mallus-ness, and if he survives the first twenty-four hours then they should expect him to make a full recovery.

His eyes land over on the unconscious other man, his right arm currently half formed as Gideon works on reconstructing it. He still can’t believe that Snart, the man who sacrificed himself to save them two years ago, was Mallus. Even more, he can’t believe that it was that very sacrifice that turned him into a vicious demon. Snart turned himself from a criminal into a hero, and the universe repaid him by twisting him into a monster.

“I don’t know if you can hear me,” Ray starts to say, “Or how much you remember from being Mallus but… a lot’s changed since The Oculus.” He doesn’t get any sort of response, not that he was expecting one. But he does get up and walk over to stand over his old… friend? Or were they just teammates? In any case, the man looks infinitely better than he did a few hours ago.

“Martin is gone, like gone gone.” He begins with a solemn face. “Jax left the team, Rip started the time bureau, which is supposedly a less controlling version of the Time Masters. You know, the guys you blew up in order to save us. Uh let’s see, what else?” He murmurs to himself, tapping his foot in thought as he tries to remember some of the most important things that have happened since The Oculus.

“Wow,” he eventually says as the realization of just how much has happened hits him. “I guess you don’t even know that Kendra and Carter are gone, or even that we saved Carter from Savages mind control.” That comes almost as shock to Ray himself. They’ve been on this mission for two years but so much has happened, so much has changed, it feels like longer.

“Mick’s been good,” he says, finding something to say aside from recounting who’s gone. “I bet you were probably worried about leaving him behind, the two of you were close and I know his track record at the time wasn’t that great but… he’s really become a hero. He’s a made a few mistakes, we all have, but I think that when you wake up you’ll be proud of him.”

He smiles at the unresponsive form of Snart and gently pats his shoulder. “Good talk buddy,” and with that he leaves to go get some coffee, and maybe a change of clothes for himself.


	5. Nothing I Wouldn't Do

Two weeks.

After a meeting with the team they decide that Mick is going to stay on the ship for two more weeks while the aftermath of Mallus calms down, plus this will give Kuasa a chance to get used to him. After two weeks he is going to leave for Central City while Kuasa stays on board, this way he can get a start on a job and a place to live without having to worry about taking care of a toddler right out of the gate. Hopefully this won’t take longer than an additional two weeks and then it will be time to drop Kuasa off, at which point Amaya has decided she will return to her own time.

Not that she mentioned that at the meeting.

She still isn’t sure, really, if she’s going to go through with it. On one hand she already feels bad about leaving the team short two members, but on the other hand Leonard will, hopefully, be awake any time now and with any luck he’ll stay on board. Plus, if she’s being honest with herself, she’s tired of running from her destiny. She may not want to admit it, but that’s what she’s been doing for the past several months, and now that she has Kuasa’s situation sorted out she is just ready to go home.

Speaking of Kuasa.

She had debated leaving her sleeping granddaughter while facing the team, but in the end she had grabbed a few extra pillows and barricaded the young girl up on her bed.

Re-entering her room she finds Kuasa is still asleep, and she can’t help that the sight makes her heart feel alight. She walks over and sits on the edge of the bed, her hand moving to rub gentle strokes up and down Kuasa’s back to wake her slowly, she’s going to need to sleep tonight after all.

Slowly, Kuasa’s bleary little eyes start to blink open and Amaya smiles down at her.

“Hello,” she says softly, “Did you have a nice nap?”

Sitting up slowly and rubbing at her eyes Kuasa nods, then lowers her arms and looks around the strange room. Her face scrunches up, as though she has suddenly remembered what it is that she lived through just this morning, and Amaya is quick to smooth her hand gently over her hair.

“Shh… It’s ok, you’re safe now.” She tries to reassure the young girl, but it doesn’t appear to work.

“Mama,” Kuasa squeaks and Amaya feels her heart break, her arm moving around her granddaughter’s shoulders as the child leans herself into her side.

“Mama’s gone,” she says apologetically, and a tear escapes her own eyes because “mama” is her daughter. Even if it is the future to her and her daughter isn’t even on the way yet for her, that still doesn’t make soothing her future granddaughter over her loss any easier.

Kuasa’s loud gasp of a cry pulls her out of her thoughts, and she wipes at her tears with her free hand.

“Come here,” she says, lifting the little girl fully into her lap and running a finger across her cheeks to wipe away her tears. “You’ve cried plenty today, you don’t want to make yourself sick.”

Kuasa sniffles at that, an attempt to stop her tears before they truly start. She allows herself to be hugged and kissed which Amaya is sure is a testament to how scared she really is, considering they only met a few hours ago. They sit in silence for a while, Amaya rocking them from side to side and rubbing a gentle hand up and down Kuasa’s back.

“My totem,” Kuasa is the one to break the silence, the quiet words making Amaya realize that she had almost fallen asleep.

“What?” She asks, peering down at her chest where the child is pointing only to then register the words and remember that originally it hadn’t been Mari who was chosen to safeguard the Anansi Totem, but Kuasa.

Great.

“Oh, um…” She trails off with her words, trying to think of a way to explain this. “It’s a long story, and I know it might seem confusing, but this isn’t your totem. It’s mine.”

Kuasa cocks her head to one side, obviously still very confused.

“It looks like yours,” Amaya decides to continue, “But it isn’t.”

“Where’s mine?” The girl questions, a sudden urgency frighteningly bright in her eyes. “I got… I got… got… to…” She’s stumbling over the words, partly because of the panic rising inside of her at the idea of having lost her totem and partly, Amaya thinks, because of how foreign the words, as well as the other few words she has spoken since Zari picked her up, sound on her tongue.

“You’re totem is safe,” she promises, a small look of relief settling over Kuasa’s face. “You’re going to have to be without it for awhile, until you’re much older, but I promise you that it’s safe, ok?”

The girl still looks unsure, but eventually she gives a slow nod, and Amaya sighs in relief.

One tough conversation done, at least one more to go.

 

* * *

 

Mick isn’t sure what it is that brings him to the med bay after the team meeting. Maybe it’s because Haircut… Ray, mentioned at the meeting that Snart is actually going to be OK and he needs to see it for himself to believe it. Maybe it’s that he announced at the meeting that he’s going to be getting off the ship to raise Amaya’s grandkid and he wants Snart to know even if he doesn’t wake up in time.

Hell, maybe it’s even because no matter how impossible he knows it is he still has a test that he wants to run.

That seems to be the easiest excuse.

He stops short for a second, the sight of Snart lying there and actually in one piece throwing him off at first, but eventually he gets past it and pulls out a blood sample they got from the adult Kuasa the last time she was in here.

He goes about his work in silence, very purposely avoiding turning around and seeing the occupied chair. Eventually, however, he finishes his test and gets the exact results that he was expecting. A part of him is disappointed for sure, but another part is relieved. He wants to be able to look after Kuasa and if this paper had ended up saying that she had some of his blood in her then he wouldn’t be able to do that.

But he can.

He can take little Kuasa back with him to Central City and try to raise her away from the darkness that is set to plague her life. He can try and prevent her from growing up to be the witch that they fought, hell she might even be able to live a longer life.

It’s with these thoughts that he pulls up a chair next to Snart and heaves a sigh.

“I’m scared,” his words are low, ashamed, and even though Snart is unconscious he still avoids looking at his face, like he’s afraid he might somehow find sorrow or pity there.

“I know what I’ve signed up for, well, I mean… I know it’s serious, but… guess I won’t know what it means until I start.” He sighs again, why is this so hard? “I’m not sure I know how to take care of a kid. I can probably keep her alive and everything but… what if I can’t give her the life she deserves?” Another thing he doesn’t know; the reason he keeps looking at Snart like he’s gonna answer.

“This is stupid,” he eventually murmurs, and gets up and leaves.

* * *

 

When Sara told John Constantine that she would be honest with both Ava and Leonard she knew she would most likely be facing Ava first, but even with that being said she still didn’t expect the woman waiting in her office as soon as she got back with the jump ship.

Nor did she expect that look of concern to be on the time agent’s face.

She stops in the doorway, trying to size up the situation. The way Ava practically springs from leaning against the desk, something has changed since their last meeting.

“Hey,” Ava says, her voice almost nervous, to which Sara crinkles her brows together.

“Hey,” she returns, very much confused. She steps inside of the office and closes the door behind her, she may not know exactly where this conversation is going to go but she does know that neither of them wants to be interrupted.

They regard each other for a moment, Ava easily the first to break the eye contact.

“Leonard is still asleep,” She assumes that’s the reason Ava’s come back, “If that’s why you’re here.”

Ok, maybe she could stand to be a little less forward, she isn’t trying to make Ava feel guilty for doing her job but… well she isn’t really ever a fan of Ava’s assignments.

“Like I said, I know he used to be a member of you’re team. I know you care about him Sara-”

“No you don’t,” Sara mumbles in interruption and Ava looks at her, taken back.

“Sara,”

“I’m sorry, but you’re making a mistake.” Sara continues, taking a few steps closer to Ava. “I’ve had my mind twisted too, I have had my soul locked away while a bloodlust controlled my body. Leonard wasn’t himself.”

Ava looks like she has about ten different things that she wants to say right now, none of them particularly nice, before she eventually crosses her arms over her chest.

“I have to do my job Sara, and that means keeping the timeline safe and bringing in people who try and rip it apart.” Sara scoffs and rolls her eyes at that, greatly considering that this might not be the best time to try explaining her feelings to Ava, but then again, when is?

Mind made up, she takes a ring off her right hand. It’s the one she always wears on her ring finger because it’s too big for her pinky, and she holds it out for Ava to see. She just stares at it at first, unsure of what to make of it, and after a few seconds Sara decides to explain.

“It’s from Len and Mick’s first heist, he planted it on Mick before The Oculus blew.”

Ava seems a little surprised at that, not to mention infinitely more confused.

“They never struck me as the sentimental types.” She says and Sara, no matter how mad she is right now, can’t help but to smile a little.

“Yeah well they’re full of surprises,” she muses, slipping the ring back onto her finger. “Anyway, Mick gave it to me that night. Said he was keeping the cold gun and wanted to give Len’s sister his parka, so I should have the ring.”

She wonders if Ava is going to need any more explanation, as she does appear to be putting the pieces together in her head.

“So… you two were friends?” She knows, Sara can tell, that it was more than that. Sara almost wishes it weren’t, that she and Leonard had just been friends and that all of this could be that much less complicated. But she can’t deny that she still has feelings for Leonard, that seeing him there when she was trapped in the spirit realm with Mallus made her heart stop and being pulled out without him felt like she had lost a piece of herself all over again.

“We were complicated,” It’s honest, at least, but that doesn’t make the look of disappointment on Ava’s face any less painful.

“Are you still complicated?” She asks in a low voice, like she doesn’t trust herself to speak.

“I don’t know,” Sara admits and Ava nods, then walks past her without a word, and leaving.

* * *

 

It’s getting late, and despite her longish nap earlier Kuasa is still exhausted from the day and needs to sleep. Amaya makes them both a supper of Waakye, something she hasn’t made in a long time and, ok, maybe she isn’t the best cook, but she still thinks that it turns out alright. She makes sure that Kuasa eats enough, which doesn’t end up being a problem, and then brings her off to give her a shower.

That proves to be a little more of a challenge.

The shower stall is something Kuasa has never seen before, and even after showing her how it works she is still adamant about not getting inside.

“Kuasa come on, it’s nothing to be afraid of.” She pleads for the third time since turning the water off, her granddaughter still clinging to her leg.

“No!” She stomps her foot and detaches herself, crossing her arms defiantly.

“Why not? It’s just like a waterfall! Waterfalls are fun, right?” Amaya continues to press but Kuasa keeps shaking her head. Frustrated, Amaya looks at the shower again, and noticed the pebbled design of the glass door. “Is it because you can’t see me?”

No response.

She crouches down, “Hey, I’ll be right here.” She promises gently, but Kuasa still shakes her head, a few tears slipping from her eyes.

Sighing, Amaya thinks over her options. She can’t force Kuasa into the stall, but she really doesn’t want the girl going to bed with the scent of smoke still clinging to her hair and soot and dirt covering her skin. She considers leaving the door open while Kuasa showers, even just a crack, but she knows that will make a mess of the floor and definitely get Ray on her case about “trying to flood the bathroom”. Then a third option crosses her mind.

She knows from experience that two adults, while it is most certainly a tight fit, are capable of cramming into the stall together. Kuasa is a child, a small child at that, and she knows that the girl’s experience with bathing thus far has been stripping down in the river alongside her mother and the other women in the village.

“What if I go in with you?” She asks and Kuasa seems to consider the idea, and then gives a meek nod.

Amaya smiles at the victory and straightens up, beginning to undress as she notices Kuasa start to do the same. She decides to tie her curly hair up in a bun and wash it later, as the last thing that she needs right now is the shampoo contaminated water running off her hair and splashing into Kuasa’s eyes. She turns on the water and steps into the spray first, Kuasa hesitant but following. The little girl doesn’t react much when she reaches over her head and closes the door, but she does look up in curiosity when Amaya grabs hold of a white and orange colored bottle.

Smirking to herself Amaya pops the lid of the bottle, “Hold out your hand,” she instructs and Kuasa complies, so she squirts a small blob of the body wash into her outstretched palm.

The child stares at the gooey substance curiously, even more so when the water landing on it washes it away before her eyes. Soon there is nothing left of the glob and Amaya can’t help but chuckle to herself.

“Like this,” she says, squirting some of the soap into her own hand and rubbing it up and down the skin of her arm. She isn’t standing in nearly as much of the spray as Kuasa is, so it doesn’t pitter away as quickly, meaning Kuasa is able to understand the concept of what it is she is supposed to be doing with the orange goo.

After they’re both washed Amaya helps Kuasa with her hair. It has clearly been a while since her hair was last scrubbed down and in the end they don’t totally finish with it, but the steam in the room, even with the fan on, is starting to make it difficult to breath and so Amaya settles for getting the last of the soap currently in Kuasa’s hair out before turning off the water.

She wraps them both in towels and they head for her room. Mentally she curses upon realizing that she didn’t think to fabricate any pajamas for Kuasa before taking a shower, and she doesn’t exactly relish a trip down to the fabricator room with her. But, she keeps the temperature in her room warm enough, so she settles for giving her granddaughter one of her own night shirts. Kuasa doesn’t complain, not until they return to the bathroom and Amaya brings out the hairdryer.

At that she doesn’t just complain, she screams and jumps away.

“What is it?!” Amaya exclaims as she turns off the blow dryer. Kuasa only whimpering and looking at the device fearfully. “Is it the noise?” She continues to inquire but still gets nothing, and so she sets the dryer down, figuring she’s pushed far enough for one day. “Ok, we can use the towel for your hair.”

It isn’t her preferred method for drying hair, but it’s doable, and Kuasa is much more comfortable with it. She then has Kuasa brush her teeth, using her toothbrush, and brings the girl back to her room. By the time they get back Kuasa is about to fall asleep where she stands, her eyes fluttering closed the instant that her head hits the pillow.

“Da yie, Kuasa.” Amaya whispers and she could swear that Kuasa’s lips tilt up in a smile at the sound of her native language as she finally succumbs to sleep.

 

* * *

 

Sara should be asleep.

It’s late, and she has had one hell of a day.

But instead of curling up in her bed she is sitting in a hard plastic chair in the med bay with one hand laid gently over Leonard’s.

“The Time Bureau wants to arrest you,” she tells him, even though she doubts he can hear her. “I think we can stop them, but… it would be a hell of a lot easier with you awake.” Nothing, and she doesn’t know what she was expecting.

The minutes drag on in silence, nothing but thoughts racing through her head. She replays her earlier conversation with Ava over and over again, and cringes every time that she gets to the end.

She should’ve handled it better, she thinks, but she doesn’t have any idea how she could have.

“It’s been awhile,” she finally murmurs, “Since you… since we thought you died.” She takes a breath to steady herself, to get all her thoughts in order. “When you asked me about the future, about ‘me and you’, I was still mad about the gun and we had a job to do but… I would’ve said yes.”

Her voice cracks with that. It’s more than she has ever admitted out loud, even to herself, but it is undeniably true.

“A lot has changed these past two years and… I started seeing someone.” She can’t help but to laugh at her own words, at the tears in her voice, at this entire situation. “She’s amazing, and a total badass. Sometimes she can be a stick in the mud but… I’ve been working on that. I really care about her, and I’m happy with her, but…” She trails off, catching her next words before they come out of her mouth and only just now realizing that she is running her free hand through Leonard’s closely shorn hair.

_“Tell them how you feel, whatever it is.”_ Constantine’s words ring in her head and she nods. She can’t deny how feels.

“I’ve missed you so much these past two years.” She confesses, “I’ve missed our card games and making fun of Rip, and I really could’ve used you to bounce ideas off of now that I’m the Captain.” She is crying now, the stress of the entire day crashing over her like a tidal wave, and she in unapologetically crying with it.

“So, when I realized who it was I was fighting, I was scared. I’m still scared. I can’t lose you again Len, I can’t. I can’t do it, and I promise that I won’t let the Time Bureau, just please come back to me.” With shuddering shoulders she squeezes both her hands around his, and barely notices the almost non-existent, but still very much there, return of the gesture.

Perking up, she does notice his lips move and hear the quiet whisper that escapes them.

“Sara.”


	6. Been a Long Day, Without You

When he opens his eyes Leonard isn’t sure how long he’s been out for, or even where he is. He feels like he’s in one of those war movies, the ones where the soldier steps on a land mine and then opens his eyes amazed that he’s even alive, the world a blur around him and nothing but a ringing in his ears.

But through that blur, somehow, the soldier can always see the people who are suffering around him.

He sees Sara’s face, and for a minute he thinks that he might be dead, because he has been longing to see that face for what feels like an eternity.

“Sara,” he doesn’t know if the word actually comes out, but he feels a pressure on his hand increasing and that has to mean he’s still alive, right?

Sara reaches her hand up to her face, is she wiping away tears?

That’s when the memories all come crashing back over his mind.

Savage, Time Masters, Alexa, me and you, The Oculus, that kiss, a bright light, white hot pain everywhere and nowhere all at once, images flashing through his mind. Lewis, his mother, Mick, Lisa, Sara, Barry, Ray… nearly everyone he had ever known, all of their faces flashed before him in memories that he was either desperate to hold onto or forget, no in-between. He remembers that tribe, those people who took him in, and the dark thoughts running rapid through his mind. He remembers the powers that suddenly blew the whole village to kingdom come, all of the death that he caused. He remembers the tribal elders and shamen all trying to kill him, or help him, or maybe both. Then the pain was back, the thoughts stronger than ever until they were in charge, the small part of him that felt empty.

Sara.

Then he saw Sara.

She came into the nothingness, a place he’s been living for what feels like forever.

No more.

He feels her hand on his, feels the atmosphere of the room, the stillness of existing only in one moment. He can breathe again.

He squeezes back against her grip, desperate to make sure that she knows he’s here and how grateful he is to her for saving him.

For not giving up on him.

 

* * *

 

“Kuasa’s asleep.”

Mick is sitting in his recliner, reading a book on parenting, when his door opens and Amaya’s words follow the sound.

He puts down the book and takes off his glasses, setting both to the side, and meets her gaze. She looks worried, nervous, and he wants so badly to pull her into his arms and tell her to pour out everything that she’s feeling. But he’s frozen in his chair, afraid that one wrong word will have her taking back everything they decided earlier in order to find a new place for Kuasa, someone better than him.

He doesn’t know what he’s expecting from her, realistically, nor does he know what she’s expecting of him. If he had to take a guess he would say that she probably expects him to say something, but he couldn’t say what if his life depended on it.

Eventually she sighs, walking into the room and looking around before she tugs a shirt off the bench press and sits down as the garment falls to the floor.

When she still doesn’t say anything, just sits there looking like she has a million things weighing on her mind, he starts to worry. But, eventually she lets her eyes flick up to meet his.

“I know I’ve already asked you this,” She begins and a feeling of relief actually courses through his veins. “But are you sure you want to do this?”

“Yes,” he answers, leaning forward so that his elbows can rest on his knees. “If you’ll let me.”

He’s never been this sure about anything else in his life. He wants to do this, more than anything, but he will understand if she changes her mind about trusting him to.

She’s not like that though, he knows that.

“Of course I will, I just hate that I’m asking so much of you-”

“Hey, hey.” He says, leaning forward on impulse and wrapping her hands in his. “You’re not asking me anything, I’m offering.” That doesn’t seem to make her feel any better, and he wants so badly to move next to her on that bench press and hold her close to him.

He’s thinking about it, with seriousness, about to actually get up and move…

“Pardon the interruption,” Gideon’s voice rings out from overhead, “But I have been asked to inform you that Mr. Snart is awake.”

 

* * *

 

Len sees Sara start wiping at her eyes, and he desperately wants to reach out and wipe them away himself. Then, before he can stop himself, he finds that is exactly what’s happening. He had almost forgotten what it’s like to move, to be real, to have a body that responds to his commands. He nearly wants to cry himself at the feeling of her soft, if only a little wet, skin underneath his hand. Experimentally he tries moving his thumb back and forth, and it works. Things are starting to clear up for him now, his senses slowly becoming less foggy. He traces his hand down around Sara’s jaw, still reveling in the sensation of her solid underneath his fingers, and down the side of her neck until he manages a grip on her shoulder.

He tries not to lose himself in the wonder of having an actual, physical grip on something. Instead he keeps his focus locked on sitting up, and is grateful when she helps him.

“Take it easy Snart,” she chides and he wants to laugh. He isn’t sure when the last time he heard that name was. It feels like it was both yesterday and a million years ago all at once.

Once he’s settled, the med bay seat adjusted so that he can still rest his back against it, Sara remains standing with her arms folded across her middle and shifting her weight awkwardly back and forth between her feet, unsure of what to say.

Frankly, he isn’t so sure himself.

“How long?” It’s the only thing he can think of, the first in a long series of questions that needs to be asked, but hopefully it’s the least complicated. He isn’t sure how long it’s been for him, if time has even passed for him at all given that he’s literally been trapped inside of it. But if he can know how long it’s been for the team, for Sara, then maybe he can start to figure out where he goes from here.

“Two years,” she answers, and while he does think _“damn”_ he knows that it could’ve been a lot worse. Two years is a long time, but not so long that he can’t hope for a chance of getting his life back.

“Anything exciting happen?” He asks and she actually cracks an amused smile at him, inspiring one of his own.

“A few things,” she replies with a shrug, “Let’s see…” She trails, pacing beside him, like she’s trying to remember exactly when The Oculus blew and the order of events, and a pain rings deep in his chest at that thought because it has been long enough that she needs to take a minute to remember.

He doesn’t let that show, though.

“Kendra and Carter left,” she starts and he can tell that is just the tip of the iceberg. “Went off to try living a normal life, now that Savage isn’t hunting them.”

“So you beat him?” He asks, a part of him wondering why, if that’s true, they’re still here. But he doesn’t voice the question, the smile on her face shows that she plans on answering it regardless.

“Yes,” she supplies, “But with the Time Masters in a shallow grave aberrations were starting to show up throughout history, like zombies in the Civil War type aberrations.” He raises an eyebrow at that, “So we stayed on board to fix them. Some stuff happened, Rip left, I took over as Captain.”

“Congratulations,”

“Thanks,” she pauses to think some more. “We um…” She picks up, her face suddenly pained. “We lost Stein.” He feels his heart sink at that, a sudden ache settling in his chest with the news. “Jax tried staying on without powers, and he was more than capable, but he decided that he needed a different kind of adventure for right now.” She pauses, like she’s grieving those losses all over again, and Len waits patiently for her to continue.

“There are some new people on board,” she tells him, “Nate, Amaya, Zari, and Wally.”

He listens to each name carefully, and ultimately shakes his head; he doesn’t know any of those names.

“Nate can turn his skin into steel, comes in handy when the bullets start flying.” She tells him and she has a feeling that he’ll be getting a more in depth backstory on all these newbies later, but for now Sara isn’t going to overload him with details and instead just give him the basics.

“Amaya is from 1942, she has a totem that allows her to harness the spirits of animals.”

Well, THAT certainly is interesting.

“Zari’s from 2042, and also has a totem, hers controls air.” The way Sara is looking at him now, like she _knows_ these totems mean something to him, like she’s gauging to try and see if he remembers… he isn’t sure how to react.

So he nods, and she seems to accept it.

“Wally is Iris’s brother, and a speedster like Barry.” He nods to that one, though he’d had no idea Iris ever had a brother, the way that Sara words the news shows that she hadn’t expected to him, so the kid is obviously a recent development.

“Not much of the original team left, is there?” He asks, she shakes her head.

“No,” she agrees, “Mick’s still here, and me, obviously. Ray is still on board.”

Len can’t help but to snort at that, amused. “Of course he is.”

She chuckles at his amusement with that, and then suddenly they’re standing in an awkward silence. There’s a lot more to be discussed between them, especially considering how he left things. But he doesn’t know how to even begin going about that conversation, especially now that he knows it’s been two years for her. So much could’ve happened that she hasn’t told him yet.

“Why don’t I get Mick?” She offers, finally breaking the quiet. “If you’re up to it.”

He nods, though he wants nothing more than to talk to her, he’ll let her guide how this goes.

She asks Gideon to hail Mick to the med bay and it’s only a few minutes of painfully heavy silence later that his old friend appears in the doorway; a young woman Leonard has never seen before trailing behind him.

Amaya or Zari, he figures.

Mick is looking at him completely stunned, the woman as well, though she appears a little weary of him.

“Leonard,” Mick finally breathes and then, in an action that is a far cry from the man’s usual gruffness, he steps forward and Leonard finds himself suddenly wrapped in a tight embrace.

It’s out of his character too, to hug, but he is just so damned relieved to be back that he returns the embrace with equal fervor. He doesn’t miss that Sara steps out of the room whilst he’s clinging tightly to his old friend, however, and he tries not to let that bother him.

After a few more seconds Mick pulls away.

“You’re alive,” he observes and Len smirks.

“I am,” he confirms, his eyes moving almost involuntarily to the woman still standing in the doorway, looking very unsure of herself.

“And you are?” He asks, hoping that he doesn’t sound anything more than curious.

“Amaya,” she answers and he nods.

Before either of them can say anything else a muffled static sounds out from the pocket of Amaya’s oversized sweatshirt, and she reaches her hand in only to pull out a walkie-talkie style baby monitor.

“Kuasa’s awake, she sounds upset.” She says as the sounds of cries start to become clear through the static, the fabric of her sweatshirt no longer blocking it.

“Want me to-” Mick starts to say but Amaya is already turning away.

“No, I can get her.” She assures him, pausing and looking back.

“You sure?” Mick asks and at this point Leonard is starting to reconsider the whole “not dead” thing, because there is no way the conversation taking place before him can be real. “I know it’s been a long day for ya.”

Amaya smiles sweetly at him, grateful, and now Len is really considering that he might be dead.

“I’ll be fine,” she promises and without any further protest from Mick she leaves down the hall.

Once she’s turned the corner out of sight Len raises an eyebrow at Mick and the other man sighs.

“Yeah,” He admits as he lowers himself into the chair Sara had previously been occupying. “I got some explaining to do.”

 

* * *

 

Amaya does manage to get Kuasa calmed back to, well, almost to sleep. She woke up and was scared when she found herself alone in a strange bedroom. By now she’s remembered the events of today, hence the reason she isn’t exactly keen on the idea of going back to sleep. So Amaya decided that maybe a nice little walk around the ship could be in order, a walk used to be how her own mother would tire her out on restless nights.

At this point she’s carrying her young granddaughter, as she was practically asleep on her feet by the time they reached the galley. She’s passing by the entranceway to the bridge, on her way to put Kuasa back in her bed, when she notices Sara staring out the front windows.

She’s careful as she steps onto the bridge, her steps purposely heavy enough so that Sara will hear her approaching. The blonde glances over her shoulder and even though she doesn’t look all the way Amaya can still sense the smirk on her face.

“Leonard seems to be doing alright,” she says cautiously, unsure of how to broach the subject of the recently recovered Legend.

But Sara hums in what sounds like agreement, so she thinks she’s done ok.

“Yeah…” She sounds almost wistful, like she’s still partially lost in her thoughts. “I never thought I’d see him again.”

Amaya has never heard much about Leonard Snart, only bits and pieces, and certainly never anything regarding about how he and Sara got along during his time as a Legend. But those words are loaded, she can tell just by the sound, and she nods.

It’s then that Sara turns to her, and when her eyes land on Kuasa her features melt into a smile.

“How is she handling things?”

Amaya smiles at the question, her grip on Kuasa instinctively tightening, even though she is well aware that there is no danger present.

“As well as can be expected,” she answers, “She’ll be ok.”

Sara nods, “You know,” She starts to ask, suddenly looking uncomfortable, which is a very unfamiliar sight for Amaya. “You know I never was going to make you take her-”

“I know,” Amaya interrupts, “No worries Sara.”

“Good,” Sara replies with a nod.

“So the timeline is still in place?” She asks, and in all honesty the question has been burning in the back of her mind all day.

“More or less,” Sara replies, and then snickers at the face of absolute worry that Amaya makes. “It will be,” she promises, “We just have to make one small adjustment.”


	7. The Paths We Choose

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks so much to the amazing sylvanheather for the beta read on this chapter!

As he knows he must, Mick explains about Amaya and Kuasa. He hasn’t given much thought into how he’s supposed to tell Snart about them and who they are to him, what it is he’s about to do, but Kuasa’s vey timely interruption has ensured that he doesn’t get much of a chance to think. So he goes with honesty, letting Snart know how much Amaya has helped him with his issues since she came on board and how much he cares about her. His friend remains stoic throughout the whole tale, and Mick finds himself a little unnerved by that. It’s not like he’s ever known Leonard Snart to be big on interrupting, lest his patience is actively being tested, but a little more reaction might have been comforting.

Once he completes his tale Snart still remains silent, and it lasts long enough that Mick is considering asking the other man if he’s ok.

“You’re leaving.” The other man finally says before he can voice his question, and it isn’t a question that Snart ask. It’s a statement, a simple observation that feels loaded with so much doubt and, dare he think it, betrayal that it weighs heavy down in his chest.

But he nods, his eyes suddenly downcast, and Leonard sighs.

“Should I?”

Mick snaps his head back up at that, taking in the total vulnerability on his friend’s face. This should be reverse; he thinks to himself, it always is. They’ve been here before, a countless number of times, but never has Mick been the one on this end of things. Snart has always been the one making their decisions, him following along without more than maybe one question, _maybe._ But now Snart is asking _him_ what he should do here, asking _him_ to make a choice that logically should have nothing to do with him. He’s the one asking what comes next instead of deciding it, like they’re in some kind of upside-down dimension. It’s not his choice, it shouldn’t be, but like all the life decisions he’s forced Snart to make for them both over the years, it somehow is.

 

* * *

 

Amaya wakes in the morning to the light sensation of the skin of her arm being pinched by two tiny hands attempting to shake her but not strong enough to actually move her. She groans and the shaking immediately stops, only to start again when she doesn’t open her eyes.

She smiles, because she’s remembered her pint-sized bedmate, and sure enough when she cracks her eyes open she is greeted by the sight of little Kuasa trying to rouse her.

“Can I help you?” She murmurs playfully through her sleepy haze, though when Kuasa tenses up she almost regrets it.

“Ɛkɔm de me,” she whines and Amaya feels her smile faltering a bit, regrettably, as she sits up.

“Kuasa,” she nibbles thoughtfully on her lip while trying to choose her next words. She doesn’t want to have this particular discussion right now, or ever, but there are going to be many hard-yet-necessary conversations over the course of the next month and the sooner that this one gets out of the way the better things will be for everyone.

So she sucks it up, as she knows she is going to have to do a lot over the next few weeks.

“As much as I love hearing someone speak my native language, you and I are the only two here who know it. You spoke some English to me yesterday, do you understand it?”

Kuasa nods vigorously at the question, which can only be a good sign.

“Mama…. Uh……. Mama…”

“Mama taught you English?” She supplies and Kuasa nods.

“A… Little.” She slowly drawls out, almost embarrassed, and Amaya can’t help her smile as she reaches a gentle hand to the young girl’s shoulder.

“We’ll work on it,” she promises, “Do you know how to say Ɛkɔm de me, in English?”

Kuasa shakes her head, however her big brown eyes are wide and sparkling with interest.

“I’m….” Amaya says slowly, waiting for her granddaughter to follow along.

“I’m…”

“Hungry.”

“Hu…Ung….ry.” Kuasa very carefully sounds out and while the word definitely still needs some work Amaya still finds herself beaming with pride.

“Good job,” she praises, getting up from the bed and Kuasa follows her example. “Now… Let’s go get some breakfast.”

* * *

 

Breakfast is typically more of a team affair than anything else on the Waverider, with the obvious exceptions of missions and holidays. By the time the two of them make it to the galley, still dressed in their pajamas, most of the crew is already gathered in various places around the tables and counter. Kuasa, who starts clinging to Amaya’s leg as soon as they enter the room, isn’t exactly thrilled about being left with Zari at one of the tables whilst Amaya goes to get their food, but she obeys with minimal complaint.

Amaya, meanwhile, is putting her order into the replicator when Mick sidles up against the refrigerator door.

“How’s she doing?”

“As well as she can,” She replies with a shrug, “I have to go on a mission later with Sara, we have to fix something with the timeline that removing Kuasa affected. So far Zari is the only person other than me who she knows, so I’m going to leave her with her. If you wouldn’t mind introducing yourself to her while I’m gone…” He’s nodding along with her words even as she trails off.

“No problem,”

“Great, I figure the sooner she starts getting to know you the better.” She says and it looks like Mick is about to say something, but he doesn’t get the chance before Sara enters the galley with their recently recovered teammate, and the entire room freezes.

It’s dead quiet, even Kuasa seems to have taken note of the uneasy, not to mention untrusting, air that has suddenly taken over the galley’s atmosphere. Leonard’s eyes scan over everyone, like he’s trying to find his place amongst this group of strangers. Amaya supposes that he probably is, and when he simply goes for the coffee machine without saying a word she decides to keep her next words low.

“How’s he doing?” She whispers at a volume Mick looks to be straining to hear, but he shrugs.

“Well as he can be,” he echoes her earlier assessment of Kuasa, voice equally quiet. “A lots changed since…”

Amaya nods at the unspoken words, he doesn’t need to specify. “And you’re leaving, so there’s more that’s going to change.”

He makes a rumble of a confirming noise at that, and then moves past her to sit by his old friend. She almost wants to follow him, to ask again if everything is ok. But at the same time she doesn’t want to press. And beside, she thinks to herself as her eyes land on Kuasa sitting at the other side of the room, she has a different newcomer to manage right now.

 

* * *

 

“No…” Kuasa moans later that morning, after she’s finished her breakfast and gotten dressed. To be perfectly honest Amaya had been expecting her temporary departure to be met with a much greater protest from her granddaughter, so she can definitely handle some moaning.

“I’ll be back soon as I can,” she promises lightly, a bit hesitantly considering she doesn’t actually know how long this little mission is going to take, hopefully not too long. “In the meantime, Zari is going to take good care of you.”

She’s kneeling down at Kuasa’s level, so she has to look up at Zari, who is standing slouched back against a wall, and offering a genuine, yet still bored, smile at them.

“Hey kid,” she halfheartedly calls, a small wave accompanying the greeting, and Amaya chuckles despite herself.

“Be good,” she instructs Kuasa, reaching out and ruffling her hair affectionately, she isn’t sure how the girl would react to her kissing her, and then she straightens up and turns for the jump ship, where Sara is standing by waiting for her.

She takes one last glance back at Kuasa in the loading dock as she goes, the young girl now joined by Zari in seeing her off, and she smiles. Buckling herself into a seat as the jump ship door closes and Sara plugs in the coordinates for Detroit 2015, she knows that she made the right choice.

 

* * *

 

Nate doesn’t know if he’s grateful or pissed that Amaya has barely said two words to him since yesterday. On one hand he knows that had she come to him yesterday he might have said some things he’d be regretting by now, particularly after the team meeting where she and Mick announced that he is going to take Kuasa back to Central City and raise her.

He isn’t sure he even knows where to begin when it comes to his feelings towards that.

Which leads to the point of being pissed, because what the hell? Sure, he and Amaya haven’t exactly been best friends since she’s come back on the ship, but he would still have liked to think that she would’ve come and talked to him first about removing her granddaughter from the timeline, for advice if nothing else.

But, apparently not, and so now he’s here looming in the entranceway of the galley while Zari introduces their newest little recruit to the wonders of a grilled cheese sandwich for lunch.

“See?” He hears Zari ask, “Told you it was good.” She’s leaning on the counter, Kuasa settled in one of the high bar chairs, and surprise, surprise Mick is sitting one seat over.

“Mmhmm,” Kuasa hums back, her mouth full of sandwich. She freezes then, her eyes suddenly on him, and it doesn’t take long for Mick and Zari to take notice of his presence.

They’re quiet at first, Mick looking almost like he wants to pick Kuasa up and take her to the opposite end of the ship, like HE is some kind of threat to her.

“What’s up, Nate?” Zari breaks the silence as casually as she can, and for the most part she does a pretty decent job, because Kuasa returns her attention to her lunch and Mick, well Mick does the same but not nearly as innocently.

Still, they all need to act casual about… whatever it is they aren’t acting casual about, more for their own sakes than for Kuasa’s. So Nate does what any normal person trying to seem casual would do; he shoves his hands into his pockets and bounces back and forth between his toes and his heels.

“Not much,” he says, “Not much at all.”

“Hmmhm,” Zari hums, obviously not convinced. “So listen,” she starts, voice noticeably dropped so that only he will hear her. “You speak like… twenty languages, right?”

“Six actually,” he replies with a shrug.

“Whatever,” she waves her hand dismissively, letting him know that six or twenty, it’s all the same to her. “Do you think you could teach a language?”

He takes a second to consider that. He’s self-taught in most languages, though he did take a German class in high school. (Not that it was very helpful.)

“Probably, but why? Didn’t Sara give you an ingestible translator?”

Zari shakes her head at the question, “Not for me, for Kuasa.” She explains and Nate doesn’t mean to sigh as he puts the pieces together, as he thinks about the fact that Amaya isn’t asking him about this herself, but he does… and Zari notices. “She’s going to be living in Central City with Mick, she speaks some English but it could really use some work before she goes.” She explains further, quite possibly to keep herself from slapping him; her hard glare a warning that he had better stop with his attitude.

“Yeah, I can try teaching her.” He complies and she nods, though she doesn’t seem entirely convinced this conversation is over.

“Kuasa,” she says, turning back to the little girl and motioning for her to come over.

Kuasa bounds down from the high stool, with some assistance from Mick. Nate can’t help but notice that she seems completely comfortable with the other man helping her and his gut twists, his fist clenching and if Zari notices that, which he is near positive she does, she declines from saying anything. Instead she crouches down to Kuasa’s height and nods over at him, directing her attention up.

“Kuasa, this is Nate.” She introduces, “Would you mind going with him for a bit, while Mick and I clean up in here?” Kuasa has three of her fingers stuck in her mouth nearly the entire time Zari is talking, but her curious brown eyes are studying him as though he is the only thing she sees. He can tell by her expression that she’s understanding Zari, which is a good sign. “He can help you with some English.” Zari promises and at that Kuasa finally looks to her, face suddenly uncertain.

She shakes her head, mute, and Zari frowns for a moment before moving one of her hands to smooth over the girl’s hair.

“Please?” She asks, “I’ll come get you soon, I promise. Mick and I just need to clean up.”

“I help,” Kuasa murmurs around her fingers, voice very quiet and a twinge of sadness in it that Nate hadn’t been expecting.

He doesn’t think Zari was expecting it either, not with the way her face suddenly looks… not quite distraught but… concerned.

“I just need to talk to Mick for a second, about some grown up stuff, ok?” She finally says with a voice that is so much more serious than before, and Nate finds his eyes flying over to Mick almost against his will, but the other man is simply standing over the sink rinsing off the plates he and the girls have used.

“Can you please go play with Nate for a few minutes?” Zari finishes her question. It still takes Kuasa another minute to reply, but this time she nods and allows Zari to nudge her over his way.

With the little girl now standing in front of him and looking up with so much uncertainty in her eyes Nate actually manages a real smile as he holds out a hand and beckons her forward.

“Come on Kuasa,” He invites in a welcoming tone, “Why don’t I show you the library?”

 

* * *

 

The second in which The New Girl starts trying to pawn the munchkin off on Pretty, rather than going along with them, Mick is sure something’s up. Her declaration that she needs to talk with him about “some grown up stuff” only confirmed it, and sure enough the instant that the kid, as well as Pretty, are gone she rounds on him with one of those faces that is all business.

He doesn’t acknowledge her right away, even though she knows he’s aware they are about to have some type of conversation. He continues on with washing his plate until it’s decently clean, and then for a few seconds more, before he finally grabs the dish towel and dries it off. He can feel her eyes burning holes into the back of his head whilst he puts the dish away, her patience with him wearing thin, and so once the plate is back where it belongs in the cabinet he turns against the counter to face her.

“What’s up?”

“Your friend’s back.” She says bluntly, leaning her elbows down into the counter, and Mick raises an eyebrow, this is what she wants to talk about so bad?

“And?” He asks; crossing his arms over his chest, and after a second New Girl pushes her weight back off the counter.

“And… I know I wasn’t here two years ago, but I was here that day you reminded everyone how much has changed on this ship since the start.”

He can’t help it when he feels his eyes narrowing; he has no idea where this is going, but he knows that he doesn’t like it. “What’s your point?”

She hesitates a second, eyes rolling up as she visibly chooses her next words carefully.

“I’ll respect whatever you decide to do Mick, but with Snart back if you are even considering staying, you might want to let Amaya-”

“I’m not,” He interrupts her soon as he realizes what she’s getting at. “I’m not staying.”

Her face is blank for a second, like she believes him, but also like she can’t understand why. “You’re not even thinking about it?”

He shakes his head, and on any other day he would leave her here to finish the dishes alone, but after the conversation he had with Snart this morning… well.

“Snart might not be either.” She looks interested at that, at least. “He might, he asked me this morning what he should do.”

“What did you tell him?”

He shrugs at that, “Told him to make up his own mind.”

“Ok…” She drawls, fully aware that they are both treading in uncharted waters here. “And what did he say?”

He huffs as he thinks about that, “Nothing,” he tells her, “Just rolled his eyes and I left.” She doesn’t look like she has a comment for that, and this could very well be the end of the conversation. Except he doesn’t want it to be the end of the conversation, not when he needs _someone’s_ help with this, and someone who has no opinion on his old friend is probably the perfect choice.

“I hope he stays.” He mumbles the words, his eyes avoiding hers until he can’t take the silence anymore and he glances up to see her looking at him like he’s grown a second head.

“This place,” he decides he had better explain, “The ship, the team, it was good for him, made him a better man…” He trails off with that, a rumble in his throat as he thinks. “Me too,” he eventually admits, “Besides, him and Boss…” He trails off again, this time because, well, he has suddenly realized that he just might to go back to calling Sara “Blondie.”

“Him and Sara…?” New Girl brings him back to the conversation, her eyes suddenly wide and blinking rapidly in response to the new information. “What were they… were they like, like a thing?”

She sounds completely scandalized, but then again, she’s been pushing harder than anyone for Boss… Blondie… Sara, to start giving things a shot with that time bitch, and she didn’t know Snart.

But it’s time she knew, especially if Snart decides to stay.

“Could’ve been,” He sighs, “If Snart hadn’t gone and blown himself up.”

 

* * *

 

They land in Detroit at night, after Gideon’s logs say Mari has discovered the powers of her totem, but hours before she is set to be abducted by Kuasa.

“You ready?” Sara asks and truthfully Amaya isn’t sure she is. She’s wanted to be able to meet Mari for so long, but the rules of time have stood in her way. Now that she is actually able to she doesn’t know if she’s ready.

But she nods, “Yes,” she says, more confident that she had expected she might sound, and Sara smiles.

Her Captain drops her off at the edge of a rooftop, from which she can see her grown granddaughter sitting on a ledge just one building over.

Her breath catches in her throat when she sees her, even just the silhouette of her. It isn’t the first time she’s been here, not the first time she’s spied on Mari from a rooftop away. But it is the first time that she is able to take a step forward, the first time she’s planning on approaching her.

She makes sure to be careful to remain quiet as she approaches, but she isn’t quiet enough and when she leaps across to Mari’s roof the other woman stands and spins around into a fighting stance to face her.

She’s wearing street clothes, not a suit, but the totem is still fashioned around her neck. She looks scared, or angry, maybe both, but Amaya just smiles softly.

Finally.

“Hello Mari,” she says after waiting so many months to do so. “It’s ok, I’m here to help you.”

“Who are you?” The other woman demands, her stance not wavering by even a centimeter. “How do you know my name?”

Despite Mari’s sharp tone Amaya can’t will the smile on her face to fade, not when she’s wanted this for so long. So, instead of backing down, she takes a step closer to her eldest granddaughter.

“I am a friend, of sorts… it’s a long story. But I can tell you everything you want to know about that totem around your neck.” She explains and for a second Mari’s eyes narrow, but then her stern expression falters and she slowly begins to drop her stance; Amaya assumes that she’s just now noticed the matching totem around her own neck.

“I…my mother gave me this.” Mari says, a touch awkwardly, as she touches her fingers gingerly to her own totem.

“I know,” Amaya promises with a nod, taking another small step closer to the other woman. “What do you want to know?”


	8. Whatever it Takes

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks again SO MUCH to sylvanheather for the beta!

Amaya gently explains what she can to Mari, which includes time travel, but she doesn’t tell her who she is, or how they’re connected. She wants to, more than anything, but Mari’s life is a good one; she doesn’t want to risk her getting angry and turning down the path of revenge that Kuasa once did.

“One more thing,” she says once she has answered all of Mari’s questions to the best of her ability, rising to her feet to leave. “As I said before, time travel is tricky. My friends and I weren’t able to prevent the destruction of Zambesi, but we were able to save your sister.”

Mari, having spent the majority of their conversation with a stunned look on her face, now looks nothing short of incredulous.

“My…?” She stutters and Amaya nods.

“We couldn’t place her into foster care with you,” she admits regretfully, “It posed too much risk to the timeline. Your sister was four years old the day Zambesi burned, and for her it’s only been a day since.” She gives Mari a second to process that before moving on, and when the other woman looks like she’s taken in the news as much as she can Amaya continues. “I have a friend, his present time is 2018, three years from now. He’s going to take your sister to his home in Central City and raise her there.”

Mari is silent, blinking at her as though her mind has stopped functioning; which Amaya supposes is only fair, considering the hefty bomb of family history that’s just been unceremoniously dropped on her.

“Just…” she trails off, suddenly aware that she isn’t sure how to end this. “Just in case you want to know.”

She turns to leave, she needing to get back to both the ship and Kuasa, but Mari’s voice halts her in her tracks.

“What’s her name?”

She stops, a smile forming on her face as she turns back around to be met by Mari’s suddenly fraught expression.

“Kuasa,” she says softly and with a proud smile, “Give her some time to get settled and adjust, I’ll have my friend get in touch when he thinks she’s ready to meet you.”

 

* * *

 

It’s late, and Leonard has been sitting here in the office all day going over his options, but he still hasn’t come anywhere close to making a decision. So much has changed since he’s been gone. Half of the team that he knew is gone; be it by choice or by death. The other half… well, they’re _different_. Raymond is possibly, _maybe_ , the least changed of the group, still bright-eyed and chipper as ever. But even with him there’s something that’s changed. Len can’t quite put his finger on it, but the inventor seems almost… not hardened but… more realistic, maybe. He doesn’t seem to be viewing the world in black and white anymore; not all the time, at least. Then there’s Mick, and a situation that Leonard is still trying to wrap his head around. When he’d decided to take his friend’s place at The Oculus he had hoped the other man would be alright and find a way to move on without him. He’s been holding Mick’s leash for so long, he’d desperately hoped that Chronos wouldn’t reemerge. But it seems he had nothing to worry about. Mick’s made a new friend, someone who trusts him enough to raise her granddaughter. The very fact that he volunteered for such a thing is evidence enough that he has changed drastically during the past two years. In truth, Mick doesn’t really need him anymore.

And then there’s Sara.

With Rip gone she’s taken up the mantel as Captain, and from what he can tell she has done a better job than that incompetent jackass ever did. Not only that, but the position seem appears to have changed her, and for the better. The way she smiles, the confident manner in which she holds herself; she just seems so much more open. She’s happier and lighter than he has ever seen her, there’s a new brightness in her eyes that makes him smile and his heart ache all at the same time. He wishes more than anything that he could’ve been here to see that brightness spark, to have played a part in creating that ‘easiness’ she has about her now. To-

His thoughts stop in their tracks at the sight of a long, slim, silver line appearing out of thin air in the entryway of the room. The line grows bigger, and then wider, revealing what looks to be a portal to an office behind it. A woman steps through.

She’s tall, maybe only a few inches shorter than he is, and has long golden hair that is swept over her shoulder. She’s dressed in a stiff business suit, and her lips part in surprise when she sees him sitting there, watching her. He supposes that’s a fair reaction. He may not know her, but after learning that there are now three Legends he doesn’t know he isn’t immediately ruling out the possibility that she knows him. Or, at least, knows of him.

“You’re awake.” She says flatly, her eyes still wide, and he nods.

“I am,” he confirms, “I don’t believe we’ve met.”

Apparently that was the wrong thing to say. Her eyes flit up and around the room as though she’s looking for her next words to fall from the ceiling. A part of him wishes that were possible, because he would sure love to know what is going on here.

It isn’t a sign from above, however, that inserts itself into their conversation. Its Sara, walking into the office, face drastically falling the second that she enters and sees the two of them staring at each other. Amaya is trailing behind her, and her face falls as well.

“I’m going to go find Kuasa, good luck.” She says as a means of excusing herself before she practically runs off, leaving Sara in the doorway alone and looking like she would rather be ejected into the time stream than face… whatever this is.

“Ava,” she begins to speak, her voice even, and the mystery woman’s eyes narrow angrily.

“You were supposed to call me when he woke up!” She seethes, her voice suddenly ratcheted to a volume that causes Leonard’s heart to jump in his chest.

“I never agreed to that.” Despite the other woman’s, Ava’s, furious tone Sara keeps her own words calm, if only a hair louder so that she can be heard. “In fact, when you told me to do that I specifically told you to ‘get out’, something I don’t think needs any clarification.”

At that, Ava’s face falters, almost as if she’s been wounded. But she doesn’t let any hurt into her voice; no matter how much it’s shining in her eyes

“He’s dangerous Sara,” She maintains and, ok, he understands where she’s coming from with that but still, the words sting, and he decides that now might be the time to interrupt.

“HE is also sitting right here,” his words earn him the attention of both women, and so he rises to his feet and extends a hand towards Ava. “Leonard Snart,” he introduces, smooth as he can. “Based on that performance it must be safe to assume that you met Mallus-”

“I did,” Ava interrupts curtly, her hands clasped firmly behind her back, letting him know that there would be no way in hell she would accept his offered hand, and so he drops it, and she turns back to Sara. “Sara he can’t stay-”

“He’s a member of my team.”

“Is that all he is?”  
And just like that, the tension in the room has jumped from a one to a one thousand.

The two women are staring each other down, conversing with just their eyes. Leonard regards them closely, trying to figure out what he’s missing, and he _knows_ that he’s missing something. He can’t quell the uneasy feeling rising in his chest, the ideas running through his head as he watches Sara communicate with this woman the same, silent, way that she used to with him. The dread coursing through his veins as the suspicion that he may be reading this correctly grows with every passing second.

However, finally, Sara breaks the eye contact by glancing ever so briefly to the side.

“That’s not what we’re talking about right now.” She says, almost murmurs, in a quiet voice that is so unlike the Sara he remembers, and yet everything like her.

“Aren’t we?” Ava demands and Leonard decides this is where he’s drawing the line.

“Does somebody want to let me in on whatever is going on here?” He asks, finally getting the attention of them both, and so he shrugs. “Seems kind of important.”

There’s a beat of silence, like neither of the women can decide on who is going to speak. Then, it seems, Ava has had enough and rounds on him.

“What’s going on is you’re a criminal.” She tells him plainly, with all the conviction of any judge he’s ever stood before, and that would be quite a few. “You’ve wreaked havoc throughout time, killed innocent people, and you are under arrest by the authority of The Time Bureau. I suggest cooperating.”

“Ava…” Sara groans, like she doesn’t actually believe this woman is seriously going to arrest him, even though he does with every fiber of his being.

And Ava, she clearly has every intention of it, because she turns her hard gaze onto Sara.

“That is enough, Captain Lance.” She seethes and Sara looks almost startled at her sudden change in tone, not to mention hurt. “If you want to pursue this further, then you know where the head office is.”

There is finality in her voice; one Len knows Sara shouldn’t try fighting. Not here, not now. So he gets to his feet before she can try, and holds out his hands to Ava, who looks every bit as stunned by the gesture as Sara.

“Snart,” Sara tries to plead with him but he meets her eyes with a warning gaze that tells her to stand down, and even after all this time she still knows him well enough to read that.

So, Ava, still looking extremely skeptical of how easy he’s making this, takes a pair of futuristic looking handcuffs off her belt and slaps them on his wrists, opens her portal, and briskly leads him through it; his eyes never leaving Sara’s as she watches him go.

 

* * *

 

“Amaya!” Kuasa’s little voice shriek’s in delight when Amaya walks into the doorway of her room. She can’t help but to chuckle at the sight of the toddler scrambling out of her bed and running to her. While Zari, seated at the edge of the mattress, tips her head back in frustration.

“She was almost asleep,” the other woman groans while Amaya scoops her young granddaughter into her arms.

But, of course, there is no actual annoyance in the groan and soon Zari is on her feet and making her way towards them.

“She ate her supper, and she finally took a shower after I agreed to go with her-”

“She… um… she nee… needed a… uh…”

“A bathing suit,” Zari intervenes Kuasa’s struggles, “I put on a bathing suit.”

That statement only makes Amaya laugh more, even if, unlike Kuasa, she does understand Zari’s reasons for such a thing and is grateful for it.

“Well, I’m sure the shower did you as much good as it did her.” She teases, good-naturedly of course, and Zari puts her hands onto her hips.

“Huh, funny, Mick said the same thing.” Kuasa is the one to giggle at that, before setting her bright eyes back onto Amaya and nuzzling her head into her chest. “Anyway,” Zari continues on, “I’m gonna go. Oh by the way Nate was kind of awkwardly standing around in the kitchen for awhile, I think he wants to talk to you about…” She trails off, gesturing at both Amaya herself along with Kuasa, “Everything.” She eventually decides on and Amaya nods.

“Thank you, Zari.” She says, hiking Kuasa up a little higher in her arms as her friend nods and then heads out.

With Zari gone Amaya makes her way for her bed and lowers Kuasa down on the mattress, tucking her in even as she tries to wriggle away from the sheets.

“Did you and Zari have fun today?” She asks, attempting to suppress a giggle of her own.

“Uh-ha,” Kuasa chirps, her head happily bobbing up and down. “We played a… a lot, and… and uh…”

“Did she show you her video games?” Amaya guesses, knowing how much Zari loves her games, both violent and non-violent alike.

“Yes!” Kuasa replies with another vigorous nod, enunciating her answer proudly.

“Wow,” Amaya says through a smile just as she manages to pin her little friend down under the sheets. “That was really good English,” she praises and Kuasa blushes as she settles down at last.

“Thank you,” she replies, stumbling only a little bit over the “ _th_ ” sound, and Amaya chuckles.

She continues tucking Kuasa in and then remains seated at the edge of the bed spinning a bedtime story until the little girl is asleep, and then she carefully gets up and silently slips out of the room.

With the door closed securely behind her Amaya breathes out an anxious sigh and starts her way down the corridor. She doesn’t have far to go and she almost wishes that weren’t the case, but the sooner that she gets this over with the better. Taking a deep breath, she knocks lightly on Nathaniel’s door.

“One second,” she hears him call from the inside, and true to his word she is only left bouncing on her toes for a few seconds before the door slides open.

“Hey,”

“Hey,” she returns the greeting just a touch awkwardly, “Can I come in?”

“Uh… yeah. Come, come on in.” He says, ushering her inside. Following his beckoning hand she makes her way into the familiar room and, after a moment of thought, she takes a seat in the desk chair.

Nathaniel closes the door behind her and then sinks down onto his mattress, his elbows resting on his knees, hands wringing together.

“Is everything ok?” He asks.

“You tell me.”

That gets him to sigh, and his already nervous face to fall even more. His eyes flash with a hundred different thoughts before he finally opens his mouth, then closes it, and then opens it again.

“I just… I know that we haven’t really been close or anything since the break-up, but I mean you’ve hardly said two words to me since your granddaughter came on board and you asked Mick to take care of her back in Central City-”

“I never asked Mick to raise her,” She firmly interrupts him, “I would never ask that much of anybody. Mick offered, and he’s assured me that it’s what he wants.” She explains, “As for you, I haven’t exactly had much free time since Kuasa came on board.”

“I know,” he quickly promises, “I know but… I just want to make sure you know that you can still talk to me.”

She nods, a gentle smile gracing her face as she does.

“Of _course_ I know that.”

 

* * *

 

As the two weeks progress, things around The Waverider fall into a sort of controlled chaos- not that The Waverider isn’t normally in such a state, but this chaos is different. For one thing, Sara is on the ship a lot less, using a stolen time courier to navigate back and forth to the Time Bureau so that she can _try_ negotiating for Snart’s freedom. Anachronisms and aberrations have been light, thankfully, so they’ve been able to handle them with only a few slight hiccups. Then, of course, there is the addition of a four-year-old running around the ship. All things considered Kuasa is very well behaved… all things considered.

She’s still sleeping with Amaya in her bed, as there is a lack of space available for her to sleep anywhere else. She’s also been quite adamant in refusing to let Nate, or anyone for that matter, properly teach her English. A part of Amaya is frustrated by this, but given that English is the only language the team regularly speaks around the ship Kuasa is picking it up anyway. Besides, a bigger part of her that knows she has to pick her battles, and there are certainly going to be bigger battles.

Case in point; telling Kuasa about Mick.

She and Mick have grown closer over the past two weeks, which is good. He’s been helping with taking care of her and Amaya has made sure to show him how to tame her hair and fix a few family recipes that she’s sure Kuasa will ask for at one point or another. So far Kuasa loves Mick, but tomorrow he’ll be heading back to Central City to get things set up for the two of them, meaning that they’ll have to drop the bomb tonight.

They decide to tell her at bedtime. Mick has joined in their story times often enough by this point that he and Amaya don’t believe Kuasa will question it, and she doesn’t, but with the knowledge weighing on his mind that tonight she is going to learn that she’ll be living with him he’s hardly able to pay any attention to the story. Amaya also seems distracted as she regales Kuasa with a very G-Rated retelling of one of their missions, not putting as much energy into the details as she normally does. But Kuasa doesn’t seem to notice, and she listens to the tale with eager ears and a bright smile all the way up through the end.

“And then the warriors defeated the evil warlock, the Vikings returned to their kingdom, and the furry blue God returned to his home where he lies in wait until he is called upon again.” Amaya concludes the story at last, and Mick knows that she probably could’ve ended it ten minutes ago, but on some level they both want to put this off. Tomorrow he’ll be gone, she’ll be left here to spend two weeks preparing Kuasa for a new life; a life they can only hope she’ll accept.

“Another story?” Kuasa asks hopefully and Amaya snickers, as does Mick, because this little girl really is hard to deny when she’s gazing up at you with those big brown eyes of hers.

But, Amaya has learned. “Not tonight Kuasa,” she gently denies. “But, there is something the two of us would like to talk with you about.”

“Are you getting… um… uh…” she looks guilty for a second, glancing over at Amaya with an apology written all over her face, the kind of sheepish expression Mick has come to recognize means she doesn’t know the word for whatever she is about to say in English. “Wared?” She questions and Mick, confused as always whenever she speaks in Twi, though he has tried to learn a few words, looks over to Amaya for clarification; only to find her eyes are wide and her cheeks flushed.

It’s a beat before she speaks, both Kuasa and himself watching her. “No Kuasa,” she finally says, voice gentle and just a bit flustered. “We are not getting married.”

Well, now Mick’s sure his face is red as Amaya’s.

“Why not?” Kuasa questions; either oblivious to the sudden awkwardness in the room or just ignoring it.

Mick then finds himself sharing a glance with Amaya, silently trying to come up with an answer to that. There are many reasons that they will not be getting married, now or ever, but it’s doubtful that many of those will make much sense to a hopeful four-year-old.

“Kuasa, Mick and I are just very good friends.” Amaya finally says, and Mick won’t ever admit to the little spark of hurt the excuse leaves in his chest, so he nods along.

“Besides,” He adds on, “Amaya’s got someone waiting for her back home.”

That gets her to look at him, an expression made up of surprise and… hurt? No, that can’t be it. Maybe fear, although it doesn’t look like any fear he’s ever seen on her.

“Back home?” Kuasa questions, sitting herself up so that the sheets fall and puddle themselves in her lap.

“Well yeah,” Mick decides to go on, his attention now on her. “All of us got a home off of the ship, this is just where we work. I mean… we gotta live here while we work but… we all go home sooner or later.”

“Right,” Amaya jumps in; taking advantage of the setup he’s constructed for her. “And soon I’m going to have to go home.”

“WHAT?!” Kuasa doesn’t waste any time in throwing herself into a panic. “NO!”  
“Kuasa, Kuasa relax.” Amaya quickly intervenes, “It’s ok, this is why we wanted to talk to you.” She hastily explains and Kuasa looks like she’s on the verge of tears. So, when Amaya looks to him with a plead for help in her eyes, he knows it’s time.

“I’m going home too, and I want you to come with me.”

Kuasa is silent.

She just stares at him, blankly, and he and Amaya stare back. Her gaze wanders a bit over to Amaya, before pulling back to him, and then returns to Amaya.

“Where…. Where home?” She stutters out at long last, and Amaya gives a sigh.

“For Mick,” she starts, tone already apologetic. “Central City, in The States. It’s a good home for you-”

“You?” The little girl interrupts, tears brimming on the edges of her eyes. “Your home?”

Amaya sighs again, they had both known this wasn’t going to be easy, but they had hoped they would be more prepared for it than this.

“Far away,” is all she says and Kuasa looks as though her entire life has shattered all over again. “Kuasa I can’t go with you and Mick-”

“Why not?” There is a crack in her tiny voice now, and Amaya looks over at him, as if asking for an answer.

Why not?  
“Well…” she eventually says, just a touch awkwardly. “I live in a very dangerous place, you wouldn’t be safe there.”

“Then why do you… li… live there?” She stumbles over the words just a little bit.

“Because it’s my job to take care of it and protect it.” Amaya answers easily, “But its no place for you.”

Kuasa doesn’t exactly look thrilled by that; Mick hadn’t expected she would. She still looks like she wants to cry, which Amaya obviously sees, as she reaches forward slowly enough to allow Kuasa to pull away if she wishes, and when she doesn’t she gently brushes a tear away.

“Now, tomorrow Mick has to go home by himself to get some things ready. You’ll stay here on the ship with me for a few days, and then we’ll drop you off with him, ok?”

With Amaya’s hand still resting on her cheek Kuasa nods, though she doesn’t say anything, and the two of them proceed to tuck her in as though it were any other night.

 

* * *

 

Any other night his ass.

It’s late, long after the rest of the crew has gone to sleep. Even Sara has left her office to get some shut-eye.

But not Mick.

He can’t sleep, he tried but it just isn’t happening. He’s got too many thoughts swimming through his head, too many fears keeping him up. So he’s out here in the galley with a cup of water. It doesn’t take the edge off the way his beer does, obviously, but he just couldn’t bring himself to take the bottle from the fridge; not when all he can think about is that sweet little girl sound asleep down the hall.

“Can’t sleep either?”  
He’s been half expecting Amaya to find him, but it isn’t her voice that comes from the doorway. Turning his head he’s met with the sight of The Captain, an oversized pajama shirt sporting a Starling City Rockets logo nearly covering her loose boy shorts. Her eyes are puffy and although it’s dark he can still see the red in them. He almost acts on the instinct to get up and leave her to her devices, but she’s an ex-assassin. An ex-assassin who approached _him_ ; if she wanted to be alone she would’ve stayed in her room.

He shakes his head with a grunt, “Nah,” he says as she peels herself from the doorway and moves to come join him, forgoing a chair and hopping up onto the counter. “You?”

She shrugs, and she looks like she wants to say something about his water, but thinks better of it and settles her hands into her lap.

“Confused,” she answers before huffing out a sigh, adjusting her position so that she can sit crisscross with her chin resting in her palm. “Ava won’t pick up her phone, and I’m not getting anywhere with any of the other agents. Going to the headquarters is just barely getting me somewhere, but I can’t keep splitting my time.”

Damn, he hadn’t been expecting that. He knows she’s serious, too, by the contemplative look on her face.

“What’cha thinking?” He knows already, but he wants to make sure he’s right, and with a tired look at him she shrugs.

“That I don’t know what I’m doing.” She nearly laughs as the words leave her mouth, “You?”  
He nods, taking another sip of his water out of habit.

“Yeah,” he agrees.

They’re quiet for another few minutes, the only sound being the gentle humming of the ship around them. Finally Sara unfolds her legs and slides off of the counter.

“Well,” she huffs, straightening out her shirt. “Has Amaya said anything to you about her leaving?” She asks, and Mick thinks on it, but ultimately he shakes his head.

“No,” she nods at that, but says nothing, and goes over to the replicator only to return a minute later with her own water and take a seat at the barstool.

“I know what I’m signed up for,” he promises after a few more seconds of silence, sensing that now is his turn to talk. “But… my old man-”

“You’re not him,”

“He wanted me.” He finishes, ignoring her interruption. He knows that wasn’t what she expected to hear, if the way she’s watching him is any indication anyway. “I want Kuasa, more than anything. Amaya keeps telling me she’s gonna have issues, that it ain’t gonna be easy. I keep telling her she’s right. Keep saying I can handle anything that little girl grows up to throw at me.” He pauses for a second, trying to decide if he is really going to finish this, and of course he is. “Cause I’ve been there.” He can’t say it, but he knows Sara understands.

“You’ll be fine,” she promises, “Like you said, you’ve been there. You’ve seen it. So I know that means you’ll do anything to keep Kuasa from ending up there.”

“What if it’s not enough?” He has to ask, and he’s relieved when Sara smiles at him.

“It will be,” she assures him, “Even if she does fall to the darkness, you’ll pull her back.”

With that she bends down and presses a soft kiss to the side of his head, then heads back towards her room without another word. He does feel better; he just hopes she’s right.


End file.
